It's Not Over
by cjratcli
Summary: Jurassic World was left alone for a year after the Indominus Rex incident, then the late Simon Masrani's son, Joseph Masrani, took over his father's position. Three years later, a lot has changed, not much for the better. The park has changed in ways that no one thought possible in their wildest nightmares. Owen makes his way back.
1. Chapter 1: Owen Returns

Summary: The park was left alone for a year, then Masrani's son, Joseph Masrani, took over his father's position. Claire and Owen were together for that year, but when Claire was offered her job back, things got messy. Now, Owen has been brought back to the park. That's where our story begins.

Three years after the events of Jurassic World….

"Absolutely not," Owen Grady spoke calmly, but resolutely through the phone.

"Mr. Grady , if we thought there was anyone else for the job, we would've gotten them," Masrani begged .

"I understand that, and if I thought there was any reason for me to accept, I would," Owen's voice began to tense a bit.

"Oh, you don't believe there is even one reason why you should take care of these animals, or better yet take care that these animals don't hurt anyone else? Okay, maybe you aren't the man for the job, maybe you aren't the man my father," Masrani's voice shook, "may he rest in peace as the hero he was for trying to kill the Indominus,"

"Look.." Owen began to say, but was cut off.

"Maybe you aren't the man my father said you were, or the man that saved 20,000 people three years ago, but I bet you are, I bet we both know why you won't come back, and bet it begins with a C and ends with a Dearing," Masrani was shouting by the time he got to the end of his rant.

There was silence then, one end was huffing from yelling, the other end just silent.

"How did you know that?" Owen whispered.

"Just because I inherited this company, does not mean I don't take every interest in my employees."

There was another pause. "You're not completely correct, but you got a big gist of it. I am the man your father described, or at least I should be. What is it you would have me do?" Owen thought he could almost hear Joseph Masrani, son of the Late Simon Masrani, smile on the other end.

"I have sent you a ticket to your email, first class, for tomorrow at 4 am from the Dallas Fort Worth Airport to the Costa Rica airport, and then speed boat to Isla Nublar. I know it's early, but it will give you a chance to settle in before the briefing at 4 pm in the Command Center," he paused, "I expect you know your way around, but I should warn you that your bungalow on the lake, uh, well… it's been destroyed. We tried to go in and see if it could be fixed, but it looks like some dinos had ravaged it. I'm sorry to tell you, but we've made other accommodations," Masrani quickly blurted out the bad news.

"Hmm, ok, but you should know I will make my own arrangements if I stay long," Owen continued, "I have two questions though, that I'll have answered now," Owen spoke sternly, "First, does Claire know I'm coming? And second, as I assume she will be at the briefing, could we arrange it so her and I are in as minimal contact as possible otherwise?"

He waited a second, Masrani began to speak, but he cut him off.

"Because I assume, considering that you take interest in your employees, then you know why it is I do not feel comfortable working "for" or "with" her," he said it slowly and calmly, but Owen's voice still betrayed a deep silent pain.

Masrani sighed, "Yes, I've heard bits and pieces about you two's relationship. I have not told her about your coming, and I don't plan on it. From what I understand, I believe it would be best for her to see you and know your position on the team, and then deal with that knowledge instead of me tell her you're coming and her try to talk me out of it," he paused, "As for the keeping you out of each other's way, I can't guarantee you won't see her, but you both should be fairly separated."

"Alright, I guess I will make do. I will see you tomorrow," Owen droned out.

Masrani replied, "Thank you, I understand this to be hard for you, but you are doing the right thing I assure you, " Masrani quieted to add gravity to his point, "Till tomorrow,Mr. Grady."

"It's Owen, and yes till tomorrow," Owen sighed and hung up.

Author's Note: This is my first story, I have a big idea, but I honestly am having hard time figuring out this site. Bare with me, the story is complete in my head. I would really appreciate feedback and support to keep this up!


	2. Chapter 2: Claire's day

_Lowery lifted the enclosure wall. She can hear the T-Rex coming. She rips the flare open._

 _Just as she sees teeth, she runs. Rexy is too close for what she hoped. She runs faster. The heat from the flare, combining with the mud, and the sweat makes her look like a savage as she runs into the courtyard._

 _She throws the flare at the Indominus Rex, right as Rexy almost catches her. But he follows the flare instead._

 _She follows the flare too, but the flare missed the Indominus, the flare had sailed to the right and lit up right at the feet of Owen. Owen had come out of hiding, Claire didn't know what would possess him to do this. Until she realized, he was the distraction so Zach and Gray could run to safety(as safe as the present situation would allow at least). She saw Gray's shoe disappear down the path to the observatory. But Owen hadn't planned on being lit up by a flare._

 _Owen looked down, and then up right at Claire. She saw fear in his eyes, but worse she saw pain. His eyes were asking her "Why?"_

 _She screamed, "NOOOO!"_

 _It was too late._

 _Rexy threw out his claw and scratched a long diagonal gash into Owen's chest, the blow flung him across the courtyard, a few feet from Claire._

 _She ran to him. The blood was everywhere. When she reached him she. She clung to him, lifting him into her lap. Her white skirt, crimson stained._

 _"Owen? Owen, please, please look at me."_

 _His eyes were fading, but he looked up._

 _Blood started to come out of the corners of his mouth, he stuttered over it, " I though-" he coughed," thought we were gonna stick together, for- for survival." His eyes went out. The green was shallow, his chest stopped rising._

"OWEN!" Claire yelled. Her own scream woke her. She bolted up. She was covered in sweat. Her eyes were wet with tears. She couldn't catch her breathe. She was awake, but the images wouldn't leave her head. The pain in his eyes. The claw ripping him open. Blood seeping out of his chest. Blood everywhere. Those words. "I thought we were gonna stick together, for survival." Lifeless green eyes. "I thought we were gonna stick together for survival."

She wiped her eyes as her heart finally slowed it's relentless hammering. She got up and walked toward the bathroom. She needed a shower.

 _It was just- just a dream. It was just a dream._

She repeated over and over to herself. She almost reached for her phone to call Owen, to make sure he was alive. Almost.

But it wasn't just a dream, sure Owen didn't die, everyone was safe, but those words: _"I thought we were gonna stick together, for survival."_

Those words were real. They were the words Owen said in his last voicemail. The only voicemail she couldn't get herself to delete, afraid it would be the only way for her to hear his voice. He had sent a million begging her to come back. She never did.

 _You were supposed to stick together_. A voice snuck into the back of her mind. She shut it off, as she turned the cold water on. She needed to cool off.

It was 4 a.m. She had three more hours before she needed to be ready, but she didn't trust herself to not fall back into that nightmare once her eyes closed. So she did as she always did: she prepared, she got organized.

Claire lived in the presidential suite of the Jurassic World Resort, it was equipped with many amenities, most of which she didn't use, but the espresso machine she used more than a healthy amount. Black coffee, tablespoon of soy milk, and a half a packet of Sugar in the Raw.

She got dressed. Combed her perfectly chopped bob. Applied her eye makeup with a little too much precision. Sprayed her Rose Lemon perfume. Finished her coffee. Made another one.

Took a sip. Opened her laptop.

Today the park was doing its first test run of The Barrier. The Barrier would close off the Jurassic World Resort from the island's predators. It would be modified to allow access ways such as trolleys, and trains that would lead to different sites, but the barrier would ensure that no animal could enter living quarters again. They created an Indominus Rex Animatronic with double the hydraulic capacity than what they calculated in comparison to the Indominus that was killed three years ago. They were cutting no corners this time. There would be no more catastrophes. If they weren't absolutely certain that they could create a completely safe park, the operations would be shut down. They had 5 years to try. They were already on year 2. This was mandated by the United States Department of Homeland Security, because though the States did not own Costa Rica, they did own Isla Nublar. They took over after the catastrophe had killed mostly American citizens.

Claire had to have a full report on park operations ready today at 4 p.m. The data analysis from today's test run would be the final information necessary for her report.

"Okay, 9 a.m. test run. 12 p.m. data analysis should come in. 3 p.m. report will be ready. 4 p.m. meeting with Masrani. Okay, I'm ready." She rambled out to herself as she slung her brief case and purse on to one arm with the keys in hand, picked up her 3rd soy, half packet of sugar coffee, and closed the door behind herself.

As she headed to the test run she avoided thoughts of her dream and instead thought about her meeting with Masrani . He had said he has a surprise for her. She would usually get worked up about a surprise, but she's learned that Joseph Masrani, much like his father, worked with adventure and c'est la vie as his mantras. Surprises were his way of keeping entertained throughout this corporate fiasco, all the business talks, and reliability meetings. She was sure the surprise would probably be some gift or unrealistic park idea. Either way, she wasn't worried. She was prepared. First things first, The Barrier.

She stepped into the observation room for the test-run at 8:58 a.m. 5 minutes before Owen stepped onto the docks of Isla Nublar.

Author's Note: I have the next chapter written, but I then realized I wanted to look into Claire and set the park scene first. Hope you like it. I'll have the next chapter up tonight. They will probably get longer after this.


	3. Chapter 3: The Briefing

_Two Years ago, 7 months after Claire and Owen left Jurassic World._

 _She was wearing his flannel, her hair was wet, and curly. He couldn't stop staring at her legs that reached to the sky. He couldn't stop staring at her beautiful blue eyes as they skimmed over line after line of the USA Today front-page article. He had already read it, "The Woman Behind the Flare: Claire Dearing"_

 _Owen had read it that morning, but Claire had been too busy filing reports to look at the news stand. It was a little over the top, but the article was a relief to Owen. Claire was now the hero not the pariah. He knew she would hate it, but she wouldn't hate it as much as the hate mail they got in by the tons that would now hopefully die down. He needed to see her smile more, needed to see the creases between her brows less._

 _Her mouth quirked a knowing smile, "You know, just because, I'm reading doesn't mean I can't feel you staring at me from across the room. "_

 _Owen got up, walked over and stepped behind her chair. He began to massage under his flannel into the shoulders he knew she carried the weight of the world with._

 _"Oh, I know you can tell I'm staring, otherwise you would have no reason to be looking so gorgeous, if I wasn't watching you would have at least gasped once at the article,"He whispered into her ear, he then kissed right behind her ear, she knew the feeling well, she never got tired of his lips there. It was her favorite spot. She unwillingly let out a small sigh._

 _"Mhmm, well I'll have you know that no makeup, in your shirt, reading, is not what I consider my best look," she turned and faced him. He looked into her eyes, the light blue even lighter when illuminated by the sunlight that cracked in through the shades. She always took his breath away, ever since she ran past his out stretched hand and away from the Indominus Rex. He knew she was trouble, his trouble._

 _It was time. He knew this was coming. It already had._

 _"Claire, I uh-"he stopped. He broke his eye contact and looked down sheepishly._

 _"Owen?" she said hesitantly._

 _"I uh- uh- shit, I don't. . . you know what fuck it, Claire" He looked up into her eyes, that were now wide and questioning, " Claire, I love you."_

 _Before he could say anything else, red lips were on his. Everything melted into sunlight and her lips. He couldn't breathe, couldn't breathe in the best kind of way._

 _She finally let him go and said, "I love you, too" She said it as he leaned his forehead on to hers._

 _"Well, watch out world I'm in love with the Woman behind the flare, proclaimed hero by day, and a freak in the sheets by night!" he mocked in his best news caster voice._

 _She gave him a playful hit to the shoulder. "I am not a "freak in the sheets" or a "hero"" She laughed, and said as she put her arms around his neck, " I'm just Claire and your just Owen, and I'm just in love." She finished by putting her lips back in the puzzle piece that was her lips on his. A perfect fit._

 _He made a moan in the back of his throat that sounded like a smile, and using the support of her arms around his neck to reach down to her hips and pick her up. She gasped as he lifted her,but quickly rapped her legs around his torso as he walked around their Texas home to the bedroom._

 _When they were tired out, Claire put his flannel back on and wrapped herself around him. Her eyes started to flutter close._

 _"I think we should stick together, maybe for survival, or maybe cuz I love you," he whispered as she drifted off to sleep._

He sometimes hated himself for saying that to her, but always takes the hate back. If he was anything it was honest, just because she wasn't honest doesn't mean he should be ashamed. He was jogged from his thoughts when the captain of the speed boat asked him to jump to the front to get the buoys to block the dock from scratching the state of the art speed boat. Owen was in the Navy, this was second nature.

Owen stepped off the speedboat onto the docks that he knew all too well. He had spent hours getting guests on board the mainland ships back to Costa Rica on those docks the day after the catastrophe. In fact he distinctly remembered watching Gray and Zach sail off after Claire gave them a hug goodbye and he gave a firm handshake.

 _I miss those kids_ , Owen thought. He broke off the thought and walked towards his awaiting Jeep ride.

A scrawny man, wearing a Marvel's Comic shirt and big hipster square glasses, was leaning on the Jeep with a sign that read: "Owen Grady, formally known as Badass Raptor Trainer, or Fairy Princess"

Owen's face broke into a grin. It was Lowery.

"Hmm, Fairy Princess? Really?" Owen walked up to the jeep, Lowery was staring at his phone, but when he heard the familiar voice he jumped and his glasses fell off.

"Shit, oh hey Owen! Glad to see you made it, Masrani Junior said he wasn't completely sure you wouldn't change your mind," Lowery spitted this all out while looking at the ground blindly for his glasses, "I told him that you didn't make plans you didn't intend to keep," he looked up, not looking straight at Owen but in his general direction as if expecting a thank you.

When it didn't come, he kept talking, "I swore to myself I was gonna be cool when you got here," Lowery cursed himself as he was searching for his glasses, in vain,

"Damn it, I can't see shit."

After amusing himself enough, Owen bent down and picked up the sand dusted glasses, "Here you go, bud."

"Sheesh, I'm pathetic, whatever, let's get going," Lowery hopped into the driver's seat.

"Nope, I will not have a clutz like you driving me around, the fairy princess will be driving, by royal decree of the fairy godmother," Owen spoke in his worst royal British accent.

"You know I would fight this, I would, believe me, but you're the one about to have a tough day. I'll let it slide," Lowery jumped the console to the passenger side of the jeep.

"Oh, I'm going to have a tough day, am I?" Owen smirked.

"I think you know what I mean," Lowery said more sincerely than Owen would've liked, "Put it in gear, we could've been back by now."

When they arrived Owen spent three hours moving into the hotel room he was given. There was an aquarium with small ancient fish swimming in it, it took up an entire wall of the room. It left a blue pool like reflection on the rest of the room. The other walls were in fossil stone, little dino bones engraved all over it, one wall opposite the bed had a giant TV imbedded in the wall. His shelves were knocked out of the stone walls and had drawer inserts that were made of what seemed like bamboo. The whole room was flare, and theme, if he was honest, Owen hated it, but he cajoled himself into believing it was modern, and cool.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Owen's watch began to sound. He looked down, his watch read 3:20 p.m. Beep. Beep. Beep. 3:20 p.m.

He needed to be ready in 40 minutes, for a meeting sure, but more than that, to see Claire for the first time in a year. The thought brought butterflies that seeped from his stomach to his fingertips.

 _No, this is not about her. Take a shower. Remember your notebook. Don't think about Claire. Take a shower. Remember your notebook. Don't think about Claire._

Owen repeated that to himself over and over and over until he was clean, and fully dressed in his usual gray cargo button down, leather vest, and his worn riding jeans (with his notebook in the left back pant pocket). He looked just as he did the morning of Jurassic World catastrophe; he wondered if Claire would notice, he wondered if she would be wearing white like she was that day. _No, this is not about her. Don't think about Claire._

Beep. Beep. Beep. 3:45. Be-

He shut the alarm off and started towards the control center's conference room. – _this is not about her…._

Ding.

The elevator opened onto the floor of the command center conference room. All glass everything. You could see from one side of the building to the other. It was "modern." Owen thought it was more empty than anything else.

"Ah, you came, I'm glad!" Joseph Masrani spoke from Owen's right. He was carrying a laptop and oddly enough what looked like a bowl of caramels. Owen's face must have portrayed confusion because Masrani immediately addressed the candy:

"Oh, I love caramel. I bring it with me everywhere, I figure, if I'm gonna live this life I might as well always have a reason to enjoy the moment. So caramel." As Masrani spoke, he led Owen nto the conference room, and sat himself at the head of the table. Owen took the seat to his left.

"Huh, that's interesting, I wish there was something I had like that, you know that I knew could make any situation enjoya-" Ding. The elevators next arrival interrupted Owen's words. Masrani and Owen looked to the oncoming elevator.

She was wearing white… and blue, that was his first thought. After everything, that was his first thought? He scolded himself for being so, so, so… he didn't want to think of what the word was for how she made him act. But he knew it rhymed with Rum.

She didn't look up from her papers as she walked out of the elevator, she didn't look up until she got to the door.

When she saw him, he could see her chest hitch midbreath from down the conference room table.

She stopped.

"O-Owen?" Claire stuttered. The faint blush that appeared on her cheeks did not conceal her surprise. He had to look away to keep from showing the look he knew he wore around her. The look everyone saw as love, but he now felt spitefully. _This is not about her!_ He scolded himself.

"Claire, come join me and your old uh-friend down here," Masrani spoke jovially, if not slightly tentatively.

"Hello Claire," Owen said as carefully as he could.

"H-Hi, I mean hello, Hello Owen, how are you?" Claire stuttered out.

Owen didn't respond, but he couldn't resist any longer. She was now standing behind the seat to the right of Masrani. He looked up from his hands into Claire's eyes for the first time since she said his name.

It was more then painful, she could see how he was doing through the green of his eyes. The green was shallow, but they were still alive. Those same eyes she had seen fade in her dream. She hoped her eyes didn't portray the sob she was suppressing at the thought. They both looked away immediately, but it was enough. The pain was known. It was the elephant in the room.

There was a pause that should've been filled with small talk. Neither of them could manage that. Both were looking down at their hands like two kids in trouble sitting out of recess.

Masrani finally broke the tension. "OK, well now that you two are already acquainted, let's get started."

"Ye-" "Sounds-" they both started saying agreements at the same time.

"You go ahead," Owen said over to Claire.

"Oh, I was just going to say sure sounds good," she said quickly and too quietly.

"Right, me too," Owen said right after.

"Jeez, you two are something else."

They both visibly blushed.

"Alright, let's start acting like adults and talk about what needs to happen," he didn't stop to check if they agreed," I have called Owen on to our team to help with the transition back in to a functioning park, he will lead the animal control and domestication unit."

"Wait- I can't control animals, especially ones I haven't been working with for years-"

Mastrani made a motion for him to wait," I know this, the title of your job is more for government comfort. What you actually will be doing is 'herding' " Mastrani produced air quotes, " you will be guiding the dinosaurs into a various compounds. This is where Claire," he looked to her," you come in, I need reports on the park so we can have begin to create a full plan: what compounds do we have? What animals should we kill? What animals can we herd? I will leave that up to you, Owen, but I was imagining you would start with what's left of the gentle, herbivore animals. From there, and this-"

Mastrani paused and pursed his lips. He continued, " and this part will be very dangerous, very tricky. Hence why I knew only you could do it, I need you to get the roaming T-Rex and other carnivorous, dangerous animals into their consecutive compounds." Masrani stopped to let the information soak between them. Owen's first instinct was to say no, but knew better. He was a Navy Seal, and Seals did not turn on duty. Claire however didn't see that side of it.

"With all do respect Mr. Masrani that is a terrible idea. He is only one man. He would- he would die," she realized she was revealing too much, being so vehemently against Owen getting hurt.

"He will not be alone. I have done other recruiting. Barry will be arriving in a few hours. And- I've also hired one more, um this part I expect will upset you, but it is something I felt was necessary. I have brought your nephew Zach to help as well-"

Claire interjected immediately, "NO, definitely not, not only would I never allow it, my sister would murder me. I'm sorry, but no. No No." Claire was angry now.

This wasn't a surprise anymore, this was a rug being pulled from underneath her feet, but instead of falling on the ground she was freefalling into the unknown.

"I agree with Claire, Zach is too young. He doesn't have any experience with animals, it's way too dangerous, and he's only a kid," Owen said, Claire looked up when he said her name. Hearing him say her name was like a lightening bolt to her nerves. She was beginning to shake from too much new, too many things out of her control. Or maybe it was the 4 cups of coffee she had had.

Masrani's voice moved her out of her stammering heart beat, "I beg to differ, Zachary, you and Claire are the only three people I know to have saved everyone's life at the park three years ago, and Zachary, if you haven't heard, is on his third year of studying animal behaviors, he almost has his degree. He his very smart, and from what I've gathered brave. It is my understanding that he has informed your sister," he motioned to claire. "As well, when I offered the opportunity he not only took it, but asked specifically, if you, Owen, would be working with him. "Mastrani tilted his head at Owen.

"He will spend his last year of college here. His internship will give him enough credits to complete his degree. It will set him up for an incredibly bright future." They both kept trying to interject, only to have him speak over them.

"You can say it's not safe, you can say it is not right, but it would be neither right, nor safe for anyone who was hired for the position, but Zachary at least wants to be apart of this, and wanting to be apart of something means being dedicated to the goal once given the opportunity. "

Owen and Claire were ready to argue, but Masrani finished, "This mission we have, this quest to rebirth this park after not just the failed attempt three years ago but the original park 20 years ago, this is more important than any of us. More important than your feelings towards bringing your nephew and your friend in, more important than the danger, it's why Owen is here because he recognized this mission is more important than you two's issues." Claire looked up at Owen, he glanced to up at her and quickly away from her.

"We aren't just rebirthing this park, we are doing our part in making sure this world remains as safe as we can make it. Safe and progressing! We are not just honoring everyone who has lost their lives to this park, but we are continuing their legacy. We are making history, but most importantly: in risking our lives we are also protecting them." Joseph Mastrani finished his speech with the click of his pen and the opening of his notebook.

There were no more complaints. They both knew it would be pointless to argue. Neither of them trusted their voices anyway.

Looking at his notepad, Joseph Masrani said, "Claire, fill us in. How did the test run go?"

She looked back down at her books. Owen looked at her again, watched her blue eyes skim over line after line of data.

 _She knows I'm staring._ Owen thought, he looked away.

He didn't know if he was imagining things, but when he looked back she looked a little disappointed.

"Okay, this is what I've got."

Author's Note: I'm exhausted, but I wanted to keep up my end of the bargain. I'll probably reproof this tomorrow for Grammar issues. This is just some more scene setting and angst. Next chapter should get some more action and maybe some Barry and Zach!


	4. Chapter 4: Training Plan

"Why couldn't you just look at the surveillance cameras, we've droned cameras to every ten feet of the park, you wouldn't miss anything," Claire said.

It was 7 p.m. the meeting was supposed to be an hour, but once everything was outlined Owen said it would be best to finish the planning now while it was fresh on the mind. Really, he just wanted to cut down the number of times he would be in a room with Claire. That wasn't lost on anyone, especially not Claire. The last three hours were spent speaking carefully, and getting mostly nothing done.

They were finally getting to the end of the planning, Claire had briefed them on the park, and that the Barrier worked great. The animatronic didn't even make a dent. She also noted that they had created a few animatronics because they felt they could find a use for them. She did mention that they couldn't get the gate system to respond very well, but that would only affect anything or anyone that was on the outside of the barrier, and Claire said that anyone or anything on the outside at this point in time was probably meant to be kept out.

That's when Owen interjected. He had the mind to go out into the park with Barry and an ACU unit to get a feel of the situation, to lock down contact points, escape routes, and locate hot spots for different breeds.

He responded to her question, "You and I both know that surveilance cameras do not show you nearly enough, they can't tell me-" He started counting on his fingers, "One, if there is a smell, say a rotting carcass, fresh grass that's been turnt up by some animal, or blood I will not be able to locate that on a camera, and that's just smell. Two, cameras can't show me if the animals have fear in their eyes, which is essential to how much control I'll be able to yield. And three, it definitely can't show me the inside of these compounds. You say that we are going to use old park sites as compounds to relocate the animals, but the aviary is still smashed, that won't work, the other areas we have no data on, and those cameras have been out of comission for three years. We need to get a team out there. More than that, if I'm going to be leading this, I need to know exactly what I'm dealing with."

By the time he was finished Claire was staring at him, she was blankly staring at him, at the way his muscles tensed everytime he put up another finger to make a point, at the way his eyes passionately delivered his message without looking up, at the way his shoulders remained at the back of his chair as if restricting themselves, like everything he did from his muscles to his eyes was to protect himself. She knew it, she knew he was protecting himself, not from the park, not from the danger, or even the catastrophe that had left all of them in shambles three years ago. No, he was protecting himself from her. She couldn't decide whether it hurt her or him more.

There was another pause, there were quite a few pauses throughout this three hour long meeting. If Joseph didn't break the silence the two of them sure as hell wouldn't. This was hard because Joseph was more of a listen and advise type. He ate a lot more caramel than usual during that meeting.

Masrani finally sighed and spoke, "Great, I think it's great. Owen, I think it would be wise to put together a full plan of action as to what you will need, why you will need it. Once you have a plan for what exactly you are going to accomplish out there, we will need to look at safety and escape plans before you leave. It is my advice that other duties during the time of your exploration are halted, and all staff will be focused on your team as it progresses through the park.

Owen nodded agreement.

"Claire you will need to organize this, as well, we will need to decide where Zachary will be placed during this first mission. We won't decide that now because by _we_ I mean he, Zachary, with our advising, and my final decision will decide where he will be. As for this meeting, I think we've outlined everything we can for now, let's end on that note. You both have your work cut out for you, but for tonight I suggest a good book, a bubble bath, and hot chocolate. That's what I will be doing." Joseph chuckled and walked out of the room with his laptop, notebooks, and bowl of caramels.

They both quickly picked up their stuff, as if all at once realizing they were alone.

"Ok, I'll send you the contacts for the ACU unit you requested, and once you have your plan ready we can discuss how you will enter and exit the Barrier." Claire said in her most formal voice.

He thought she sounded just like that day she asked him to come with her down to see the Indominus. Controlling. Guarding. Tense.

As if by instinct, he fell back into what he was used to, "Always with the itineraries, hope you don't mind if I wear board shorts to our next meeting," he smiled.

 _Our next meeting?_ She thought.

She wasn't expecting him to loosen, but she took it in stride, "I'll only allow it if you bring tequila," She gave that special quirked smile he knew she only gave to him.

Then like cold water he realized what was happening. His walls came right back up.

"Right. We probably won't need to have a meeting actually, email is fine by me." he said before turning and leaving the conference room. Leaving her behind him, staring. He knew it too.

For that little moment she thought they were back to Claire and Owen, and then like a bee sting she remembered that it could never be that easy. But she had hoped...

It was then, staring after him as he turned and walked onto the elevator, as they locked eyes for a split second before the doors closed, it was then that she noticed: _He was wearing that same outfit the day of the catastrophe._

"Zach!" The brown eyed boy turned questioningly in the direction of his name.

When he turned he saw a familiar leather vest, and scruffy face, "Owen?!"

"The one and only, when did you get here?"

Owen put up his hand, Zach grabbed it and Owen pulled him into a man-hug where he clapped him on the back and scruffed his hair.

"Ah jeez, let me go, " they both laughed. " I got here just an hour ago, I put all my stuff up in my room, and was coming down to get something to eat, forgot this place isn't actually a resort anymore.. or I guess isn't a resort yet." He trailed off, something like pain and memories flashed over his eyes.

"Oh, right, well don't worry about it, I know where we can get some food." Owen nodded in the direction of the old Underwater Observatory. The Mosasaurus had been shot down by U.S. military, deeming the ancient animal perfectly fine in extinction. No one seemed to disagree, if that thing could gobble up the Indominus, it wouldn't be long till it figured out how to break through the underwater barriers it had.

There was a fish and chips restaurant on the landing before the observatory, it was Owen's favorite. The park had kept 4 of its restaurants open for employees. The food was free, and delicious. Especially since everyone knew that when the park was in service, the food would cost way more than it was worth, but for now they didn't have to spend a dime.

After settling in at a booth with a shark shaped table, digging into the food a bit, Owen started explaining the situation. He deftly avoided talking about Claire, but especially avoided asking Zach if he would go on the expedition. Zach may have been Claire's nephew, but he felt like family to Owen too. He didn't want to see him hurt either.

"Ok, so you are going to scout the park, you are possibly, in fact most likely going to be in serious danger a lot of the time, and you and Barry will be the only one's with experience against Dinosaurs? This sounds like an awful plan." Zach said setting down his fried fish sandwhich and looking up at Owen.

Owen stopped mid-chew and swalllowed.

"Well when you put it that way, but it has to be done," Owen said. Jokingly he continued, "Do you have a better idea?"

"Not in the sense that I don't think you should go on the expedition, but that I think you should train for it, like if there is a way to simulate dinosaurs, figure out each one's weaknesses, fight them with weapons we know will work, that sort of thing. Plus, I think you could easily run a fitness program that could get everyone ready to run for their fucking lives so they won't tire out by mile three when they still have 5 miles to safety. Plus I think the confidence of knowing you have some experience on how to handle being stuck in a jungle with a bunch of dinos would help everyone cope with the situation a bit better, like give us confidence." He paused and said a little more solemnly "I think that would've been immensely useful to everyone three years ago." Zach finished saying as if it was an obvious idea, but Owen was shocked.

 _Mastrani was right, this kid is smart._

"You know, that's a great idea. We do have limited time because of the 5 year limit on the park reboot, but we still have 3 years left since the mandate. I think if we spent 3 months training, and collecting information on how to best deal with every dinosaur we could be on to something, not only for containing the animals, but for when the park opens again. We won't be dealing with unknown danger, we will know exactly how to control the animals without trying in vain to domesticate them.

Owen's eyes shifted back and forth thinking over the plan.

"That's actually genius," he smiled up at Zach and slapped him on the shoulder.

Zach gave a proud smile back, "Ok, so should we go tell Claire after we eat?"

Owen's face visibly stoned. "Uh, we could probably just ask Masrani, or maybe we should plan it all out first then see who to talk to.." he trailed off.

"You know, I know you don't want to talk to her, but she's my aunt so I will be going to see her nonetheless. I could tell her myself, but she thinks I'm a kid. She won't take it seriously, so I say you put your big boy pants on and get over it. We have a plan. We need to execute, ok?" Zach said it as a question, and Owen nodded, but they both knew it wasn't up for debate.

 _Mastrani was right about a lot, this boy, scratch that, this man is dedicated to the task._

"Alright, you're right, but let me put together the training program first, let's meet at the Daily Grind tomorrow morning, go over it with Barry, and then go see about Claire. Deal?" Owen asked.

"Deal."

 _It was a Sunday. Claire loved Sunday. Sundays they would go to their favorit coffee place, Owen would bring his Bible, she would bring whichever Jane Austen, or Bronte Sisters or any Victorian, Post-Victorian book she was on, and they would sit. They would read for a bit until something happened in one of their books that sparked an interest or was worth talking about. Then they would talk about it for hours, where ever it lead them._

 _They were already sitting in their usual spot in the corner. Claire sipped her usual soy, half packet of sugar Coffee, Owen slurped some frilly frappucinno that no matter how many times he ordered, she would always laugh at him for ordering. The restaurant owner kept the corner table reserved for them on Sundays. Apparently, the owner's grandson was one of the survivors from Jurassic World, and after that hero article came out the owner kissed the ground Claire walked on. Hence the reserved booth._

 _Owen was in the book of Matthew now. Claire had just started Orlando by Virginia Woolf last Sunday._

 _She read,"As long as she thinks of a man, nobody objects to a woman thinking" (Woolf)._

 _Owen read, " 4 And He answered and said to them, 'Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female, 5 and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? 6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no man separate" (Matthew 19:4-6)._

 _They both looked up._

 _"You go ahead, mine can wait," Owen said to Claire._

 _They spent the next few hours discussing feminism, then strong women, then Hillary Clinton and her bid for presidency, then the supreme court not taking gay marriage cases, then what the world was coming to, and then what they should have for dinner._

 _Owen however was somewhere else between each topic, Marriage. He knew he wanted to be with Claire as long as he could live. There was nothing else to it. He would ask her to marry him._

 _They decided on thai food for dinner. Thanked the restaurant owner, and left at 4 p.m. 6 hours after they had arrived. Claire loved Sundays._

Owen had finished the plan for training, with a few questions he knew he needed to ask Claire. Now he was sitting in bed reading some of the notes and tabs he had made in his Bible. He came across a pink posted note that tabbed Matthew 19:4-6: _So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no man separate."_

He sighed and shut off the light.

Author's Note: Ok so you may see that I've incorporated religion, and mentioned politics in passing, but this is only because that seems to me an obvious fit for the two of them and especially Owen with Christianity. It gives him a little more depth in a way. Please don't be offended, if you are well then I'm sorry that it makes you feel some way, but religion is a part of our world. Moving on, I know I said there would be more action, but there was more that needed to be said. I'm trying to reveal bit by bit the Claire and Owen story so that it may all come together while the present story comes together. A frame narrative of sorts, if you will. Also, I hope I have some Victorian lit fans on this story, I'm not quite finished with that idea. Ok I think next chapter will be tonight or tomorrow morning.


	5. Chapter 5: Training Intell Escape

"You know, I actually like this plan. It's no wonder the kid came up with it. God knows, I don't like Owen's 'rip your shirt off, flex your chest and chase dinosaur' plans. A well organized, strong plan that's what I go for," Barry said. He smiled as he watched Owen shake his head at him. Zach crossed his arms and gave a smug smirk.

They had met at the daily grind at 8. Barry got a mountain dew, he hated coffee. He was raised for 10 years on a coffee farm in Ethiopia before moving to Great Britain with his mother, he hated coffee. Zach got an americano with a little cream, Owen couldn't help but think he was trying to act mature. Owen got a pumpkin spice frappuccino, he tried not to think about the cute reaction he knew Claire would have had. He was always blocking her out.

Barry was just briefed on the plan: 3 month plan. There would be three parts:

First, the training program. It would take the entire 30 person ACU unit, Zach, Barry, and even Owen, who would run it, through three months. The training would consist of a 2-a-day, 6 days a week schedule, marathon cardio training in the morning. In the afternoons: tuesday and thursday was body building, endurance training monday and friday, and on wednesday and saturday: boxing training. The plan was to prep their bodies to run, to fight, to persevere, and lastly to take a beating. Owen mixed his experiences in the Navy, with the raptors, and his experience during the catastrophe to come up with this training plan.

Second, Intell. Owen would ask Claire to allow the animatronics she spoke about in his briefing to be used in their boxing training. As well, intell would gather any and all information that would be essential to surviving: from what was the most vulnerable area of a raptor's body to what type of berries they could and couldn't eat. The team would have classes on the new information ran by Lowery, beginning in the second month, with an exam at the end of that month.

Third: Escape. They would devise escape routes from a grid work that split the park into 10 sectors. The park resort would stock helicopters, and boats for immediate deport if/when an emergency was reported. They would also give state of the art jet packs to each member of the expedition unit, as they were now calling themselves. These packs could fly one person from the farthest point of the island to the resort, but only 1 mile extra after that, if the person did not know the direction to take, or was stalled, they would likely not make it, and landing was not going to be smooth. The jetpack was a last resort because of this.

They all looked at each other, a sort of nervous excitement was zipping between them. Owen chose not to tell Zach that his participation in the program depended on Masrani's decision. He figured the training couldn't hurt Zach, and if he did come he would at least be prepared.

"Ok, so we all agree, let's get going," Owen said as stood up.

Owen slurped that last of his frap, and they walked towards the command center.

Claire was in her office. When Zach knocked on the glass she glanced up, and broke into a smile. She then noticed the other two, but didn't change her expression. She motioned them to come in. Owen and Barry took to the chairs, as Claire went and hugged her nephew, after exchanging a few words, they sat down too, Claire behind her desk, Zach in the chair to the right of Owen.

"Ok, so what are you all doing here?" Claire started.

"Aunt Claire, we have a proposal. Owen came up with it, and we all agree," answered Zach.

"Yeah, well actually, your nephew here had the idea," Owen began, "and it's a great idea. When I told him about the plan to explore what we are dealing with, he pointed out the major flaw: preparedness. We need to be ready for this. We need to have trained, learned, and know exactly how we are going to do this. So I came up with just that, a three month, three step program."He brought up his fingers like he did in their first briefing. "First, Training. Second, Intell. Third, Escape. This will not only prepare us for the expedition though, this program if successful could be how the park gets running again. If the people running it know how to handle any situation whether it be with a T-Rex or a Triceratops then the park can never have another catastrophe, we would be prepared." Owen spoke clearly and this time held eye contact with Claire the whole time.

"Ok, I'm listening." Claire responded.

Owen gave the entirety of the details, Zach and Barry inserted details here and there to complete the picture, but by the end Claire was smiling, a close lipped smile.

 _This could work._

When they finished they were all looking at her for her answer, she responded,"When do we start?"

"I was thinking tomorrow, and- wait, when do _we start_? Are you planning on joining us? I sort of figured you would help with intell and the escape plan.."Owen mumbled.

"Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I can't handle it, I might not be going on the expedition, but I will be remaining at this park for the foreseeable future and accordingly would like to be prepared, as you said, if this works this could be how we reopen," she said it as a threat. No one refused it, but she saw Owen's eyes sink a little.

He wasn't supposed to see her often, now he would see her every day twice a day for 2 hours each.

 _He planned the whole day. The ring was in his pocket. He twirled it between his fingers every so went to coffee like usual. Today they talked about the Book of Revelations from the Bible, and things got pretty dark, but very interesting. She told him that she had something to tell him, but she said it could wait till dinner. He didn't plan her having plans, but he told her he had something to tell her too. When they usually would talk about what to get for dinner he said he had plans. That he had to go to the Zoo and work out some last minute details for the new Panda they were getting. She looked disappointed and relieved, which he couldn't puzzle out what that could mean. They went straight home instead of picking up take out so that he could 'get back on uniform for the Zoo'._

 _She opened the door, and the lights were off but tealight candles were lit everywhere and there was a little wooden table in the middle of the room with two folding chairs, she recognized them from the porch. There was what looked like soup already dished, and roses, yellow roses, her favorite, that sat next to a larger candle that lit the space._

" _What's all this?" Claire breathed through a giant smile._

" _Oh, you know, just some candles, and dinner. Hope you like pumpkin soup."_

" _You know I love it, it's what I had at that restaurant in New York when we got back from Costa Rica. You made fun of me for getting soup when we hadn't eaten in a day. I told you I loved soup, but you made me eat half your steak too."_

" _Details, Details," He said as he kissed behind her ear. He walked in front of her and pulled out her chair._

" _What a gentlemen, I thought you didn't like planning things?" She quirked a knowing eyebrow at him._

" _Oh, I hate planning, it gives me hives," he feigned itching his neck, " But you love plans, and I love you," he whispered in her ear as he pushed her chair in behind her._

 _She blushed._

 _As he sat in his chair she asked, "What's all this about?"_

" _Nothing, just wanted to do something different."_

" _Please tell me those candles weren't burning since we left 6 hours ago?"_

" _No, I asked our neighbor to come over and light them for me about 10 minutes before we got here."_

" _Wow, I don't even know what to say."_

" _Don't say anything, the soups getting cold," they both laughed._

 _They ate the soup, which was followed by Chicken Masala, a very complicated french recipe, and then raspberry chocolate torts, another favorite of Claire's._

 _They laughed, and he leaned over and kissed her multiple times, but every now and again he would see a look of worry come over her face when he wasn't supposed to be looking._

" _Owen" "Claire" they said each others names at the same time._

" _You go first," Owen said._

" _Oh, no you go ahead," she stammered._

 _Owen took her hand, " Claire, I'm gentleman remember, now say what it is that's got you so worked up."_

 _She breathed out._

" _Owen, I have to tell you something. Joseph Masrani called me the other day," Owen's head tilted quickly, she avoided eye contact, "He's the new owner of Jurassic World, and subsequent son of Simon, he's a good guy really-"_

" _Claire, say what it is you're avoiding," Owen interrupted._

" _Right, he offered me my job back," she said it quickly like if she said it fast enough he wouldn't recognize the enormity of the news._

 _There was a pause._

" _Okay, and?" said Owen inquisitively._

" _And, at first I immediately said no, I mean how could I want to return to that nightmare-"_

" _Seriously," Owen agreed with her first thought making it clear he wasn't happy with where this was going. He gripped the ring in his pocket._

" _Yes, well, once I thought about it, I realized I need to go back." Owen's eyes bolted up to hers._

 _Another pause._

" _Let me explain, I need to go back because I've always felt like I failed, like that park would always be my fault. This is my chance to fix things. To reopen and show the world that Jurassic World is not a failure, it can be the picture of resurrection, the picture of progress. I need to do this," she said with so much conviction that his hand loosened it's hold on the ring in his pocket. His plan for the day was falling apart in the last lap of the race. She was wrecking his plan._

 _He didn't speak. She searched his face for answers, but he didn't say anything._

" _Owen?" she said after she couldn't stand it any longer._

" _What about us?" He didn't really say it as much as whisper it, but to Claire it felt like he was yelling at her. He looked up. The green of his eyes was lighter somehow._

" _I- I don't know." She looked away._

 _Pause._

" _So what you're saying is that you are taking this job, you will be there full time on an incredibly dangerous island, and you expect me to?" His words were dripping with pain._

" _Owen, I expect nothing, I have to do this."_

" _You expect nothing, you expect nothing?" He repeated to emphasize his incredulity._

" _So the last year is what? has been a good time for you, a year to take a break from work so you can be refreshed to take up the reins again, and I'm just some fool you used as something to keep you entertained. Is that all this is? You are just going to leave?" He was still whispering._

 _She wished he would yell, wished he would do something that she could get mad at him for, but he just sat there dejectedly with one hand in his pocket the other gripped in a fist on the table. His eyes looking everywhere but at her._

" _No, no, I love you, I don't know how to do this. I don't know how to make it work. Maybe we could try doing long distance, I don't know. I don't know."_

" _I need to think." Owen got up and left her sitting at the table. She thought she could see his eyes beginning to glass over, but he walked past her to their bedroom._

 _By the time he was gone, she remembered that he was going to tell her something too. Too late to ask now._

 _She came back into the bedroom a few hours later. She finished Northanger Abbey. Put out all the candles, thinking how a few short hours ago they were happily sitting lit by those same candles. When she entered the bedroom, he was asleep. She put on her pjs and slid in next to him. She had a sneaking feeling he wasn't asleep. He never slept on his side._

 _The next day she woke up to cold sheets. He left a note though: I actually did have Panda paper-work. I'm going to think some more though about the situation. I love you, Claire. - Owen_

 _She knew what he would decide, he would wait. She realized she didn't want to be responsible for keeping him from living his life. She started crying, sobbing, as she packed up her stuff. She moved as quick as she could. Got a moving van and service to move all of the stuff Owen wouldn't need, and that was hers into a unit near by. She knew she would not do it if she saw him again, but not only would she not allow herself to hold him back, she wouldn't allow him to hold her back. Either way she cut it one of them would be left bitter if she didn't leave now. She called Masrani accepting his offer and by 4 p.m. She closed the door behind herself. She choked on a sob as she looked back at the apartment._

 _When Owen came home and saw everything gone, he knew. But when he read her note, that she left beside his note, he didn't wait a second. He called her. He called her again. He called her for ten days. She never answered. She didn't give an inch. He got anonymous checks for her part of the rent for three months, but he never cashed them, she must've looked at her bank account and saw the money never moved, because after three months the checks stopped coming in._

 _Her note read: Owen, I'm sorry. I love you. I will always love you. I know that this is unfair. I wish you could come with me. But I also will not be the reason you do something that you hate. I could never live with myself if I was the cause for you not living the life you choose. I know it doesn't seem that way now, but I think me leaving will hurt you less than me making you change your whole life for me. Please, find a way to forgive me, I don't expect you to, but know that I'm doing what I need to do. I love you._

 _Goodbye,_

 _Claire_

 _There were tear drops on the note, and she left a red lipstick kiss stain next to her name._

 _He called her because he wanted to tell her she was wrong. Wanted to tell her that he would gladly go back to the park if it meant they could stay together. Wanted to tell her that the life he would choose was with her. Wanted to tell her that he had a ring, that he was going to propose. That they were supposed to be "no longer two but one flesh" (Book of Matthew). Going to tell her that they had to stick together, for survival. But he she never did answer._

 _He left voice messages that said he loved her, and in his last voice message he even said the "For survival" bit, but he never could let go of enough of himself to admit to her that he was planning on proposing the night before she left._

He kept the ring, he even brought it with him to the island, and he couldn't figure why. Well he could, but he brushed it off as safekeeping until he returned it or resold it. Didn't want someone to break in and steal it, spun it up to some nonsense, he didn't even pretend to believe.

He went to bed sleeping on his side. She went to bed sleeping without him next to her. Neither of them really slept much.

 **Author's Note: Ok, there it is. Now you know! There will possibly be more flash backs, but likely I will just get on to what's to come. Hope you like it!**


	6. Chapter 6: A Clean Break

Claire finished her coffee quickly, the first training session was today, Monday the 2nd of November starting at 5:30 a.m. She imagined there would be a lot of groaning at this early start, but Owen had made it clear that the first tenant they would all have to learn was discipline. Waking up at 5 to train for 2 hours would be just that. Claire didn't mind, either way she would most likely wake at 4 by her body clock anyways. Whether that was healthy or not. She was excited to get started, she was a little nervous about seeing Owen everyday, but only because the stone wall he had up was cold to the touch. Maybe she could chip away at it, now that she'd be seeing him every day.

As for the training, she had ran cross country and swam competitively through high school. She had kept the running up ever since, ran three marathons, completed one iron man. She knew this training would be tough, but she wasn't worried about learning the discipline. That was among the _few_ things she wasn't worried about.

They were meeting outside the Innovation Center in the middle of the resort. Owen had said they would run under the transit line rails that hadn't been cut down by the Barrier. The Barrier was constructed by the U.S. army, they had surrounded the railways from the resort to the ferry landing at the southern tip of the island. The army wasn't much concerned for cost to rebuild, but neither was anyone else once the T-Rex tapes hit wide news. Owen and Lowery mapped the distances, the farthest straight run they could get on the monorail was from the Innovation Center to the ferry landing. Owen chose the monorail that glided above the island because eventhough they couldn't detect any life in the area blocked off that they were now living in, didn't mean Owen trusted that information. After all, he had stepped into a supposedly empty enclosure with the Indominus, and that ended brilliantly. So he would have them run on the terrain below the rail because it would prepare them for land running, as well, if something did come up on them they could climb up the monorail service ladders to escape.

Claire looked down at her heart rate watch as she walked up to the group collecting at the Innovation Center: 5:25 a.m. She looked around looking for Zach, not without first finding Owen sitting on the top steps wearing an all too familiar white Navy Seal T-Shirt, just seeing it reminded her of the many times she would slip it on after he made love to her. She blatantly turned red at the thought.

She was snapped out of the thought by a voice calling from her right, "Aunt Claire, over here." She followed it around a pack of guys from the ACU unit that were silently standing together with barely opened eyes, there sitting on the bottom step was Zach, and Barry. They both were wearing white Ts and black shorts.

"So did you all intend to match, or?" Claire laughed.

Barry and Zach exchanged glances at their outfits, "Great, now not only am I the intern, I'm a wannabe."

"Hey, don't get too upset my boy, if there's anyone to want to be it's me, no one's gonna judge, " Barry laughed. Claire laughed too, and Zach squinted an annoyed glare at them both

"OK, everybody let's get started." Owen's voice boomed everyone to attention.

Claire thought he sounded like a drill-sergeant.

After some moaning and groaning, and some shuffling of people into what was an unorganized pack, Owen continued.

"We all have one goal here: to make this park safe, enjoyable, and to protect each other. When we start our expedition we are going to come in contact with danger, fight or flight will set in. After these three months, hopefully we will know how to fight, but there is a certain extent to human capacity in a fight against a dinosaur. So flight most likely will not only be instinct, but it will be most practical for survival.

He paused to see if everyone was following. Everyone was at attention. The people he was leading were the kind of people he liked to deal with.

"Here's the plan: Today, we are only going to run 4 miles. For some that may still be challenging. It will get more challenging, we will add a half mile every day until we reach 14 miles, a little over a half marathon. We should reach 14 miles by the 25th of this month. Once we reach that we will go 14 miles every day and start adding 2 miles to the 14 on Wednesdays and Saturdays until we reach 26 miles. We should reach 26 on the second week of January. We will keep running after that, but it'll probably become an activity for the teams that will be created. As a group, we will focus primarily on using the last two weeks to prepare for the expedition, more on that later." Owen realized he was saying a lot, so he gave a little pause for it to sink in.

There was some shifting of feet, some people looked exhausted hearing the work to come, but others just looked ready to run.

"We will split into three groups: Fast, Moderate, Slow. Do not overestimate yourself. There is no pride in falling behind, only in getting better.

"I will lead the pack. I also will maintain the pace, if anyone falls too far behind, or tries to break in front of me, we will run another mile. This is not punishment, but reality.

"If we go out into the park and the situation arises where someone runs too far ahead they will be leaving someone behind, the person who ran ahead will have to turn back, will have to run that distance back and then forth to retrieve the fallen behind member. That is applicable as well to the person who fell behind, if the person that they couldn't keep up with doesn't realize they lost them, the left behind will likely have to run faster, and farther to find the person they lost pace with.

"So if we can learn to stay together, think as a team, we will be that much closer to efficiently outrunning a T-Rex. Keep that in mind.

"I am realistic though, the different pace packs will likely become more of a unified group by the end, but I imagine some people aren't runners. This is information we need to put together for when we create teams. More to come on this front, but for now let's get into speed groups. Oh, wait, first, does anyone have any questions?" Owen spoke clearly, and with a confident, but humble command. It was calming, and inspiring. The whole group seemed to wake up to his words.

Everyone shook their heads: _n_ _o_ , while looking around to see if anyone had raised their hand.

"Ok, then let's make groups. I'm the leader of the Fast. Who will be Moderate?" Owen asked the group.

A young woman from the ACU unit with black hair rose her hand, "I'll do it."

"Great, name?"

"Serena Hamilton."

"Ok, thank you Serena.

"Who will be Slow?"

Crickets.

"Alright, we can rename the group to 'Progressing' if that means someone will let go of their pride." Everyone laughed.

"Uh, I'll do it," a small voice came from behind the group.

"Who said that?" Owen asked as he scanned the group.

Lowery stepped out to the side of the group.

"I'll be damned. I had no idea you were joining us Lowery."

Everyone turned.

"Yeah, I didn't know I was coming either until about 10 minutes ago when I was sitting in bed and remembered Masrani's helicopter opening the skies to the velociraptors. Decided if you guys mess something up in your little expedition, I want to be prepared for the side effects this time. " It was meant to be funny, but the group quieted.

"I'm glad you came. Ok, let's split up behind each leader."

Zach went to the Moderate group behind Serena. Claire could tell he took a liking to the girls blue eyes.

Barry followed Claire over to the Fast group.

Owen tried to ignore the fact that Claire stepped right behind him. Claire tried to ignore the way his Navy bootcamp T-shirt pulled around the muscles of his back.

So it began.

After the run, everyone went to whatever work they had to do. The people that's job was strictly to prepare for the expedition went and got coffee after every morning session. Claire, Owen, Lowery, and a few other people that had joined outside the ACU team had a lot to get done. So their days were packed, they all barely spoke except on informational details.

Claire was always shut up in her office putting together the financial packet, park reports, and PR pieces for running to the unsuspecting public. She was still handling issues from the catastrophe.

Lowery sat in the control room with a team of intell people researching down to the smallest bone of the animals, to the smallest inch of the parks lay out, he was putting together an intensive crash course for next months educational program.

Owen was in the thick of it, he got Claire to give him a key to the Unit they kept the animatronics in, subsequently the same unit that Claire had let Rexy out of. Owen then programmed the dinobots, as he called them in his head, for fight sequences that lasted 10 minutes each. He was planning on bringing them out for practice once they had all passed the Intell exam in two months. He knew they would need knowledge on the animals before they could understand and be confident on how to attack. The first week of working with them he had mostly just ran away, but he began to see where he could attack. He was learning by doing, but it was dangerous, he was thrown every day. There were three animatronics: T-Rex, Raptor, and Velociraptor. He came to secondary workouts with different scratches and bruises everyday, some worse than others. No one seemed fazed by it, except Claire, but she was still getting used to him. Her voice was never strong enough to ask him anything when she saw him.

One day, Owen let the T-Rex get a little too close when he was looking for a weak spot, and it hit him unconscious. When he came to, he felt a sharp pinch, it was familiar to him from when he got hit by a bullet in Afghanistan, the bullet's impact had broken his rib through the vest. The T-Rex had broken his rib too. He couldn't feel a major break so he knew from experience that if it wasn't going to puncture his lung it just needed time, you were supposed to rest them, but he didn't have time for that. But the incident did bring to mind an idea. Owen decided that he would begin to hold an observatory exam of everyone that was training to go on the expedition. He knew that if he could break a rib to one of these animatronics, there is no telling how much could happen to someone who couldn't lift a 20 pound barbell.

Owen began intently watching everyone in the group, looking for weaknesses, and strengths. If someone didn't seem to be keeping up in at least 2 of the areas of training: endurance, body-building, boxing or the marathon training then he would disqualify them from participating in the exhibition. He wouldn't let them train against the animatronics either, they were too dangerous for someone who wasn't strong enough. He decided to keep the examination secret so that no one dropped out, or changed their approach to training. He would reveal his examination 2 weeks before he made the final decision. It wouldn't be right to give no warning, but he also didn't want the expedition to become some personal opportunity to beat out someone else. If everyone was ready, everyone could come, but the expedition needed no loose ends, no weak links. Not only that, It needed a strong team, not strong individuals. Commradarie would be learned in the 20th mile, in taking that last hit, it wouldn't be made in a selection process.

He began his observation that afternoon, it was a Wednesday. That meant fighting practice.

The black haired girl, Serena, was throwing punch after kick after punch on to a cowering Lowery. Owen had changed boxing training into martial arts by the second week, recognizing the need for the group to understand how to handle their whole body in a fight.

He was about to step forward and give some pointers when Claire stepped beside him. He glanced to her in his peripherals.

She saw his glance.

"What are you looking at?" She asked motioning to Serena and Lowery.

"I'm sorry?" He asked like he didn't quite hear her, or didn't quite understand why she was asking.

"Well, you're staring at them like they are some sort of rare species that you're trying to puzzle out, and I'm wondering what it is you're actually looking at."

He gave a short laugh, "Even though Lowery is certainly a rare species, that's not what I'm doing. I'm looking at why he is getting beat so bad, what Serena is doing to beat him."

"Huh, interesting. So what's your conclusion?" She said looking at him. He had a habit of not making eye contact with her when possible. The blue was just a little too much for him still.

He didn't respond directly to her, but walked up to the ring.

"Alright, hold up." He said into the ring.

Serena backed away from Lowery who now had his gloves over his head.

"Lowery, why are you letting her beat on you?" Owen asked giving him a pitiful head tilt.

"Because she's a girl. I can't hit her," Lowery said through his elbows, as his arms were still over his head.

Serena raised an eyebrow at that, Owen rolled his eyes.

"We both know that's not the truth. I think I have a better idea of it. You are not comfortable with your strength, or your body flow. You need to get in a good stance. Feet shoulder width apart. You need to put your gloves in front of your body and act like you're in a fight, not like you're under your bed waiting for your mom to tell you there's no monsters in your closet, or in this case waiting for me to call the fight," said Owen.

"Easy for you to say, you got like a mountain for a body, I'm more of an AntMan, I work in the details, not throwing my chest out and beating it with my big hulk fists like you do" Joking was one of Lowery's most used defense mechanisms.

Owen just smiled. "I don't see very much work in the details. Unless the details include you cowering with your hands over your head. And Hulk, huh? Not my first choice."

"Alright Lowery, get your stance, hands in front." Lowery set up into a moderately better stance and hesitantly put his gloves back in front of himself.

"Ok, better, now Serena could you step out of the ring for a moment," he said. She looked over at him questioningly, he gave an assuring nod, and she climbed under the guard. Claire watched the whole thing.

Owen climbed up into the ring, and pulled off his shirt. He forgot.

Claire gasped and put her hands over her face. Lowery's eyes bugged out as he backed away from Owen...

Owen looked at them both inquisitively, and looked at where their eyes had fallen. He hadn't thought to look at his rib after being hit by the animatronic earlier, he had just made sure there was no complete break in the bone by running his fingers over the area. Then he took a few advils and went straight to the secondary.

He looked now though. His entire right side was a myriad of black, purple, blue, and on the edges murky yellow-green. It was as if looking at it made it hurt. His face scrunched a bit at a sharp pain that came when he lifted his arm to look at it, but he suppressed a groan. Claire didn't miss any of it. He put his arm down quickly.

"Oh, uh, it's nothing. Put your gloves back up Lowery." Owen tried to brush it off, he had a feeling it wouldn't work.

Claire dropped her hands from her face, and almost yelled, "Are you kidding? No, you need to get that looked at."

It was the first time the real Claire had spoken to him since he had come on the island. It was oddly thrilling, but he didn't have time to think about that.

"Crazy? No. It's just a bruise, calm down." He said exasperatedly.

"Lowery, Put. Up. Your. Gloves." Owen was growing impatient. He was sure the Claire he knew wouldn't let it fly, but he didn't know this Claire, he didn't think this Claire cared.

"Uh, I don't know, Owen. I don't-" Lowery hesitated.

" _Lowery._ " Owen said it as a threat.

Giving in, Lowery lifted his gloves. Claire did nothing.

"Ok, now. Hit me." Owen commanded.

That was the last straw.

In an instant Claire had climbed up into the ring, yelled directly at Lowery, " Don't you dare Lowery." Then pivoted right in front of Owen, very close to him in fact. He didn't think she realized, but he certainly did. Her jaw clenched and she put a finger on his chest, "If you don't go to the Island doctor right now, I will personally shoot you with our highest dosage of animal tranquilizer and carry you myself. You are being a child."

She kept her eyes locked with his the whole time. He kept one eyebrow up and an emotionless face. When he couldn't look at the blue anymore, he broke eye contact, looked to the ceiling, and said, "Fine, but it's just a fracture."

He then looked over to where some of the group was working on the punching bags. Barry was holding the one that Zach was working on. "Barry, come here and take a few punches from Lowery. Give him some tips. Serena, could you take that bag off Barry's hands?"

Barry nodded as Serena walked over to his place.

Zach gave an awkward, "Hi." Serena returned the greeting, and held the bag. Claire smiled and rolled her eyes at her nephew. She was still standing very close to Owen, her once pointed finger was now her hand simply lying on his chest. She blushed a deep red, hoping no one saw, and backed up a foot. Owen felt the loss of contact, and looked over at her, but she had looked away, the blush wasn't down her neck yet.

Barry climbed into the ring, saw Owen's bruise and gave him a knowing look. Claire was looking at it too now, like if she stared with enough concern it would begin to heal.

Owen spoke up again, "Could you run the workout once you're done with Lowery, here? The red head's making me get this checked out," he pointed at his bruise.

Claire gave him a deadly glare. Barry snickered, "You two are something else."

That snapped Owen upright, he moved away from her instinctively. _He's protecting himself from me,_ Claire had the same thought she had at their first meeting in the command center.

"Well, I'll go get this sorted out," Owen blurted. He maneuvered out of the ring. Claire followed. When he realized she was following him to the door, he turned. She knocked into him. She saw pain from the contact to his side flash across his eyes. She gave rushed sorry before being interrupted.

"What are you doing?" He asked looking down at her, she was, again, very close to him. He opened the door to get the space he needed. She brushed down her shirt like she was still wearing a suit that needed flattening. She always did that when she was gathering her thoughts, he still knew her too well.

She stood up straight, "Oh, you don't actually think I'm so stupid as to not know that if I don't come with you, you'll just run off somewhere and say 'it's all good' tomorrow without having had it looked at, at all, do you? Well, I'm not stupid. I'm coming with you, and I will hear the full prognosis myself."

Owen lifted his eyebrows, "Good to see you're still very controlling." He turned and suppressed a smile. He held the door for her. She was smiling smugly as she walked past him.

It was a break. He couldn't feel a big break because it had been a clean break. The island's doctor said it would need 2 months of good rest to heal. Owen told him that wouldn't work out. They had been arguing for ten minutes now. Claire was quiet in the corner flipping through a people magazine pretending to be impartial, Owen was in a gown in front of her on the practitioner table.

Doctor Mcgrath was becoming irritated,"Mr. Grady-"

"Call me Owen." Claire's eyes rolled on que.

"Ok, Owen, you can't continue training like you are currently with a broken rib. You could puncture your lung-"

"You said it was a clean break, if that's true then unless I hit it hard enough to break it again, that most likely won't happen."

"Mr. Grady, you are being absolutely irration-"

"Owen." He interrupted again.

"Owen. That is irrational. You are doing plenty of things that could break it again. And on top of that, the pain you will be in just breathing will be unbearable. I'm not even talking about the serious danger you are putting yourself in, but the pain you will be in is not worth it."

Owen huffed at that, only to cringe at the pressure on his rib. Claire instinctively reached out breaking her 'reading a magazine cover', but pulled back.

"Ok, I'll take 2 weeks off, from training." He said it like the doctor was choking him.

"2 weeks? You- you know what I would tell you that you need two months rest. I would tell you that you're going to kill yourself, but I also know that it will be in one ear and out the other. So instead, I'm gonna let it slide. Let it be known that I tried. Ms. Dearing would you please make sure these two weeks he doesn't do anything at all that could disrupt his healing?" The doctor unexpectedly turned to Claire.

Owen looked over at her, she looked back. She wasn't sure where they stood. She definitely didn't think she was in a place to be his babysitter. But the doctor didn't know their story. If she did this they might be able to start new memories, and stop living in the past every time they saw each other. She didn't think hard about that idea. Didn't think that it wouldn't necessarily mean moving on from each other, but could mean moving on from those notes they left. Away from the tea lights, the cold sheets, the red lip stain, this would be how they could find a way to look past all that. Neither of them recognized that.

Claire was worried about him. He was trying to stay closed off. Both were out of their element.

Another split second, "Of course, I'll keep him out of trouble." She said to the doctor, not Owen.

"Right, you got a tyrant watching me, can I go now?" Owen tried to make it playful, but Claire could tell he was nervous. He was clicking his thumb like he did with the clicker tool he used on the Raptors. He always did it when I he didn't feel in control. She still knew him too well.

"Not so fast, I have a balm that will reduce the swelling, and will act like a pain killer of sorts. You'll need to put it on twice a day. The break is in the back side of your right rib, someone else is going to need to apply it. Claire, if it's alright with you, I will put you in charge of it."

Owen's head snapped up at that. This doctor truly had no clue about the two people he was in the room with, rather blind actually.

"I'll be fine."

"I would let you decide, but I don't trust someone who is going to take 2 weeks to let a broken rib heal. Claire should do it, if she's willing-" the doctor looked to her, she nodded. "because she will already be keeping track of you."

McGrath had his eyebrows raised at Owen waiting for a retort.

Owen shook his head, looked up at the ceiling, down at the ground, huffed, cringed at the pain it caused, and through gritted teeth said, "Fine."

When they came out of the Doctors office which was a 3 room unit in a wing of the command center, it was 11 p.m. they had been there for 4 hours. As they walked back to the hotel, he joked that she just came to get out of training. She didn't play it off as anything, didn't think it was worth it to correct him. They had made a lot of steps in 4 hours, telling him that she was worried about him seemed like one step too far so instead she just laughed at his jokes. She was plenty happy with him just talking to her. It felt nice to just be his friend. She was hoping that the painkillers weren't the only reason he had let his guard down, that maybe he was going to let her back in.

When they got back to Owen's room he pulled off his shirt, handed her the balm, sat carefully on the side of his bed, and lifted his arm.

"Ok, don't worry about being gentle, I can take it," Owen said while looking away like a little boy about to have his blood drawn, hoping if he was tough enough the nurse would give him a lolly.

Claire couldn't help, but smile at how cute he was. Owen glanced over and caught her smirk, "Whatcha smilin' for?"

She wasn't expecting him to catch that.

"Oh-uh, nothing. Sorry, nothing."

"Hmm, alright well if you're just gonna laugh at me, I can slap the rub on myself."

He reached for the balm.

"Ah-ah-ah not so fast, I got it. You will not be slapping anything, anywhere. Put your arm back up."

She took a glob of it out. He watched her hand as it started on the yellow outside of the bruise that started in the front of his chest. He sucked in a breath. She looked up to see if he was ok. He nodded. She traced the balm as lightly as she could over the bruise. It was very swollen. She could feel the ridge of the bruise when she moved over it lightly to the non-bruised part of his side that she tapered the balm off at.

"Ok, done."

He breathed out, forgetting again, the pain breathing heavily caused. This time he didn't hold back the groan.

She couldn't let that one slide,"Owen, you really don't need to do this. We can delay the program, or Barry can run it. You've already outlined everything, and we are two weeks in people know what to do-"

"No."

"Owen, be realistic. There's a good chance that by the time we are supposed to go out into the park your rib will still be broken-"

"Claire, No." He wasn't giving in, she could tell his walls were coming up, but she couldn't care about that as much as seeing him kill himself.

"Owen, you could at least give me one reason not to tell Masrani that you are hurt and have him force you off the force."

He looked right at her then. Not the way he had in the last few weeks, he looked at her. He let her see the green of his eyes the way she used to when they woke up in the morning. She let her see the pain, not from the rib, but the pain she had put there. The pain he'd kept for the last year. She felt naked in front of those eyes.

He looked away as he got up to put a shirt on, _"You'd like that wouldn't you_." He whispered as he walked past her to the drawers.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked a little to angrily, he hadn't intended her to hear what he had said. If he was honest, he had intended it, but didn't expect a response to it.

He didn't answer her, but she had a feeling she knew what he meant.

Before she could say anything, he started again.

"Do you know why I came back, Claire?"

He paused waiting to see if she'd say anything.

"When I was a Seal, I had a commander that never said much. He would work us, he would push us, and sometimes we hated him, but we always respected him. He did all of the work with us. He never gave himself any breaks that he didn't give us. He bred respect. We were on a field mission when we were ambushed. Every single man fought for the man beside him, and when a stray bullet hit the commander in the gut, we all covered him like fifth limb. He died in the helicopter to the medcenter." She put her hand on his. He looked at her suspiciously, but in a gentle kind of way.

"I have a broken rib, sure, but I have people that have no idea what they are about to face. They have no idea the terror that's going to grip them, all they know is that they're training. They need to know that this is going to become personal, this is going to get dirty, and people will be hurt. So I have a broken rib, I'm the first to be injured, but I'll be damned if I'm the first to back down. They need someone to lead, that's why Masrani hired me.

"He called me to come back and I said no, for three hours I said no, but then he told me the death count, then he told me what could happen, he was honest. I saw an opportunity to be like that commander, to lead a team and to do something worth my life. In the moment I realized that, I let go of my hatred for this place, and- and my hatred-

Claire said what she thought he couldn't say, "and your hatred for me."

He looked at his hands and swallowed, "No, I don't hate you. It could never be that simple. But I'd be lying if you weren't the reason I turned it down"

She wondered how those words hurt her more than if he had just said he hated her. She didn't understand, yet did all at once.

"Owen-" She said his name, but didn't have any words.

She could feel her eyes beginning to fill.

"It's ok, Claire." It wasn't, they both knew that. But she couldn't rationalize sobbing into his chest about the pain she caused.

So she got up and quickly said, "You should rest, I'll come in before the run tomorrow and put on the balm." He was surprised by her sudden movement, but didn't say anything.

"Goodnight, Owen," He nodded his head in a silent response, but didn't look up.

Once she got in the hallway, she let the tears stain her cheeks. Once she left the room, he went into the drawer beside his bed and pulled out the ring. She cried into her pillow until her eyes couldn't take anymore and drifted into a restless sleep. He fiddled with the ring between his callused fingers until his thumb grew too tired and he drifted into a nightmare of fallen soldiers and a note on a table.

 **Author's Note: Ok, sorry for not posting yesterday, but as you can see this chapter is a lot longer than others. I felt all this needed to be put in one place. I know there's some technical stuff, but I want this story to read like it's actually happening. Next chapter will probably be shorter, probably try to get us closer to the expedition leaving. Unless I get hooked on an idea again :/ Anywhosal, hope you like it! Please Review**


	7. Chapter 7: Truth

Claire came in at 5:15, the door was bolstered open. Owen was looking through his Bible. He was reading through some of verses he had highlighted over the years.

"Knock. Knock." She said as she walked over to sit at the bottom of his bed below his feet. Which he swung over the side of the so he was sitting beside her. She got up, and picked up the balm.

"How'd you sleep?" Owen looked over at her through squinted eyes.

"Oh you know," He trailed off.

 _She did know, she knew all too well. The year after the catastrophe they would swap nights of nightmares, sometimes waking up from one nightmare only to wake the other out of theirs. The sheets were a constant tangle of limbs and holding, wet with tears, and sweat. It got better every week, sometimes they'd both go days without nightmares. Claire recovered well after around 6 months, and so did Owen with nightmares, not with sleep. He would wake up at 3 am and wander to the deck of their antebellum Texas home. She would wake up to an empty bed, knowing exactly where to look for him, she'd go sit on his lap and draw lines up and down his forearms until he'd fall asleep. She'd gently wake him, take his hand in hers, and walk him back to bed._

 _When she left he found more reasons to not sleep, sometimes he would skip the activity completely and sit on the deck. He would just count stars and indulge in the breeze tickling his forearms, letting himself feel as much as he could in the wee hours of the night. He knew it was the closest he would get to having her back._

Claire saw the bags under his eyes now, remembered deeply how well she did know. She thought she might say something, but he lifted his arm and handed over the balm.

For the next couple days, he didn't talk much. He went to the workouts and drove his motorcycle next to the group on the runs, even though she said that wasn't resting.

When she came in to put the balm on, he often was already sitting with the balm and his arm up. He tried to make the encounter short and as painless for him as possible. She tried to start conversation, tried to get back to their banter. He always looked like he would engage, only to become subdued again. A flash of something, like he had forgot to close the garage door, or left his wallet at home, would come across his eyes and he would go quiet. Claire wanted to say something, wanted to push, but it didn't seem fair. It wasn't fair. One day though it became too much for her.

It had been a few days now that Owen had returned to training, but the bruise hadn't completely faded and the bone was certainly still broken. The doctor had Claire continue with the balm and upped Owen's pain medication. She noticed that the bottle never seemed to empty though, she recognized that he wasn't taking them.

They were finishing up their morning run when Claire noticed Owen's face. He was incredibly pale. When they got back to the innovation center he didn't do his usual informative meeting or group huddle, just told everyone he would see them later that day for endurance training. Once he started walking back to the resort she followed him.

"You don't need to put the balm on today, I got it." Owen said to her without turning around to acknowledge her presence.

"Uh- I don't think so, Dr. McGrath said you could injure yourself more twisting on the rib. And-"

"Dr. McGrath is a pain in my ass, and I don't need anymore of his 'expertise'. I got this." Owen walked up the steps to the resort. She ran ahead of him to stand in front of the door. He gave her a steely glare.

"You don't get to act so tough like your life doesn't matter. You are incredibly pale, I think you're hiding something. You don't get to undervalue yourself. You need to let us take care of you. We only pester you because-"

"Don't even say it, Claire." Owen said in a flat voice. He pushed her aside gently and walked into the hotel. Claire rolled her eyes and followed after him. He always took the stairs even though they were on the fifth floor. She followed him up the steps, he shook his head every now and again, but didn't say anything.

Once they reached the inside of his room, she let it out.

"This is ridiculous and it's gone on long enough. You keep shutting me out, keep trying to kill yourself just because you don't want to be near me. It's ridiculous, I care about you, Owen-"

"Ha- No, you don't. Please leave, now."

Her words made her suck in a breath. He awoke a deep anger in her.

"You have to be joking, what the hell do you think I come in here twice a day and rub that shit on you for? Why the hell do you think I'm constantly monitoring you!"

"What ever you're doing is out of guilt, or fascination, or I don't know, but you don't care about me. You can say you do. You may even think you do right now, but once this all settles down once we fix this park and I leave, you won't care. You don't care, so why don't you leave me alone so that I can try my damned hardest to pretend like I don't care as much as you don't." Owen spoke through clenched teeth.

Her eyes widened, she clenched her hands into fists, "That's bull shit, Owen. You know I care, you know it. I told you it every day for a year. I had to take this job for myself, I had to. I would be lying if I said I didn't regret it every day, if I said I didn't miss you every day, it hurt like hell, Owen. But this is who I am, I can't just leave it behind."

He didn't miss a beat,"But you could leave me behind? This park, these damn dinosaurs are who you are?" It was a rhetorical question.

Owen started yelling, closing the gap between them with every word. "I came back to fix this place, to make sure jurassic world 4.0 wasn't another death count. I didn't come here to have you pretend like I meant shit to you. You left. We had a life, we had a future. Damn it, I loved you,Claire. I would have done anything, I mean anything for you. I would've come to this park for you. And don't you dare say you wanted me to live my own life and not miss out on my dreams or some bull shit like that. My dreams, Claire, my dreams were nightmares of bloody raptors, bloody soldiers, and death, so much death. You know that. I didn't want dreams, I wanted you. I wanted us. But you left, now you act like I'm the asshole. I would take the pain of a broken rib, hell I would take six shots to the gut before I would take the pain you put me in. The pain I now relive every day that I see you. Don't say you care about me, Claire. People who care don't leave." He was standing a few inches in front of her. She could see his neck muscle pulse with every word. She could feel every word like a needle full of oxygen sending nauseating waves of truth to her heart. She could finally feel the pain he had been holding back. It was tremendously heavy. She thought she might collapse under it. But she held his eyes, searching for words. He looked away and let out a breath. He turned away from her.

She looked down at the ground and finally whispered, "I-I want to say I'm sorry, because I am, I didn't realize or maybe I did, but refused to examine the damage I was doing. So I want to say I'm deeply sorry but that seems too small. I don't know how to explain why I left. I know you think I don't care, but I do, so much. I still love you."

He turned when she said I love you, but after a few moments still said, "You're right that doesn't mean much." She bit her lip.

There was a long pause. A tear rolled down her cheek.

"Is there a way to fix this?" she said trying to keep her voice. He looked at her then.

"I don't know. I know one thing though, until you can figure out why I wasn't enough to keep you, I won't trust you." He said it sorrowfully. He even reached up and wiped her tear. She looked up at him. She knew it wasn't the time, but she had to. She took a step forward, took his face in her hands and kissed his lips. It was short, and felt like an apology. She leaned her forehead against his for a split second before he turned away pressing his eyes together as if pushing out a painful thought. She knew that was her sign to leave.

Right as she closed the door, he passed out. He fell sideways on to the ground with a thud. He came to quickly and crawled up onto his bed. Something was wrong, but he was too tired to sort it out. He woke up a few hours later feeling better, but he knew something was wrong. He couldn't draw a full breath. The rib was pressing dangerously on his lungs. He finally took a painkiller, not just for the rib this time.

Days were flying now, the educational program had begun and Lowery was teaching everyone everything he had learned in the last month. It helped that everyone was deeply invested in the material. The training was going better than hoped, people were becoming incredibly fit. In fact, they all made jokes about making an ad for "Owen's Fitness Program: learn how to fight a dinosaur and get a hot bod in three months." The group was becoming very close knit, it was good. Owen saw no one who would need to be cut and in fact decided he would scrap the examination for instead a placement exam, where people's strengths would put them in categories so they could make teams that would have intelligence, strength, and escape strengths from each member respece

No one had told Zach that he might not be going yet. It was the elephant in the room to anyone that knew.

They were coming in to the final month, now. Owen and Claire had become more comfortable around each other now that they had gotten everything off their chests, but the line was clear. He didn't trust her. She didn't have a solution. They weren't anything more than training partners. Claire wasn't immensely happy with the situation, but she had decided to earn his trust back. This time she wouldn't leave. Owen allowed himself to let go of some of his hurt now that she knew where he stood. He began to heal a little bit of his heart, unfortunately his body refused to use his heart as an example. His chest grew heavier every day.

 **Author's Note: Ok, so I know this is super late, especially since I was posting regularly every day, but I had a jammed weekend. July Fourth was great, but I did miss writing this. I also recognize this is short, but I have to get on the road back home. I may write something up tonight to finish some thoughts up. We are getting very close to leaving for the expedition now! I'm ready for some action, hope you are too. Thanks for all the reviews, favorites, and follows. It all means a lot to me, and definitely keeps me writing.**


	8. Chapter 8: Almost Ready

They only had two more weeks of long runs, but no one seemed to mind. After week 3 people stopped feeling sore, there was injuries and the like, but most people just powered through those. The speed groups, as Owen said, melded into one. Even Lowery was keeping pace easily. They hadn't skipped one day. Until today.

They were all stretching and chatting in front of the innovation center. Usually Owen was already there running a dynamic warm up, but no one had saw him yet that morning. It was a Thursday so they were supposed to run the usual 14 miles. It was now exactly 5:30 and never had the group left one minute later than that, if someone was late, that person had to catch up, as well the group had to run an extra mile. That had only happened once with an intell girl who had joined on to get the experience, she still hadn't stopped apologizing for it.

This morning was different though, no one doubted Owen hadn't slept in. They all knew he didn't sleep past 4 am or at least they guessed by the fact that he was never sleepy eyed, but always tired, he didn't have bags as much as just a hollow look that was warranted from restless nights of nightmares and staying awake. No, he hadn't slept in. When it turned 5:35 the group thought to start without him, Claire looked about worried, and started to head back to the hotel to look for him.

But then she saw him, her jaw dropped. Everyone stood frozen. Owen walked up in front of the group in a full blown Santa suit with a big red bag flung over his shoulder.

Laughter and applause broke out through the group.

"HO-HO-HO" Owen said in a deep jolly voice.

Everyone laughed louder. Owen protruded his belly and patted it like he had just eaten his fair share.

"Well look at this group of fine men and women, looking around for the commander. I don't see him anywhere. He must be sleeping. He would be smart to do so for it is the morning of Christmas Eve, and that means he will be staying up late to see if I, good ole St. Nick can fit through a resort Chimney."

People's faces were split into unwavering smiles, with a few curious looks, nobody had even checked the calendar. No one knew it was Christmas Eve.

Owen pulled out a piece of paper began to speak in rhythm, almost like singing,

" _Twas the morning before Christmas, when all through the park_

 _Every creature was stirring, even a Lowery;"_

The grouped buckled over laughing, Lowery gave smug grin and wiped his glasses.

Owen went on,

" _The guns were stocked by the soldiers with care,_

 _In hopes that T-Rex soon would be there;_

 _The people were hustled all speed for their run,_

 _While visions of beds danced in their heads;_

 _And Serena in her shoes, and Zach in his cap,_

 _Had just settled down for a long training lap,"_

Zach looked at Serena, she blushed.

" _When out in the park there arose such a clatter,_

 _I sprang from the bathroom to see what was the matter._

 _Away to the window I flew like a flash,_

 _Tore open the fossil shutters and threw up the sash._

 _The sun on the breast of the new fallen mornin'_

 _Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,_

 _When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,_

 _But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,_

 _With a little old driver, so lively and quick,_

 _I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick._

 _More rapid than raptors his coursers they came,_

 _And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;_

' _Now, BLUE! now, CHARLIE! now, DELTA and ECHO!_

 _On, COMET! on CUPID! on, DONDER and BLITZEN!_

 _To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!_

 _Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!'_

People smiled at the mention of Owen's pets. All glad that he was getting better about losing them.

" _As dry palm tree leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,_

 _When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,_

 _So up to the innovation center the coursers they flew,_

 _With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too._

 _And then, in a twinkling, I remembered my goof_

 _With the prancing and pawing of each little hoof._

 _As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,_

 _Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound._

 _He was dressed all in luau, from his head to his foot,_

 _And his clothes were all tarnished with mud and soot;_

 _A bundle of presents he had flung on his back,_

 _And he looked like a peddler just giving me his pack._

 _His eyes - how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!_

 _His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!_

 _His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,_

 _And the beard of his chin was as white as snow;_

 _The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,_

 _And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;_

 _He had a broad face and a little round belly,_

 _That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly._

 _He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,_

 _And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;_

 _A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,_

 _Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;_

 _He spoke not a word, but told me to give these gifts to you,_

 _And told me a treat that he had in mind; then turned with a jerk,_

 _And laying his finger aside of his nose,_

 _And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;_

 _He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,_

 _And away they all flew like the down of a thistle._

 _But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,_

' _HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL GOOD MORNING' "_

There was applause.

Owen broke character, "And if you're wondering, the treat he had in mind, was two days off from training to celebrate the season as well as any other holidays people may embrace etcetera. As for the bag full of gifts," Owen pulled the bag out from over his shoulder," has given each of you a $5,000 dollar bonus."

So that's where this was coming from, Mr. Masrani.

Cheers, and laughter filled the courtyard. Owen opened the bag to wads of cash, He handed each individual theirs and once he finished everyone walked over to get coffee, handing the cashier $100 dollar bills. Which turned out to be an issue and Lowery ended up buying everyone a coffee on him.

Zach came up to Owen as they walked towards the Daily Grind. "So, how did you get Masrani to do all this?"

Owen laughed, and pulled his fake beard in mock thought, "Well, I wouldn't be if I wasn't honest, that Owen Grady fellow told your Masrani that the team needed a break, but more than that, needed to celebrate this wonderful holiday." He stopped with the voice, "Yeah, pretty much I told him that we were going to take two days off, and that I thought he should give everyone a good bonus for their hard work. It didn't take much of a glare for him to get the point, in fact he may have done it on his own, even if I hadn't said anything." They walked up to the doors of the coffee house. Claire smiled at them from a table, they ordered and sat with her, Barry, Serena and two other people they'd integrated into their group. Owen and Claire always glanced at each other, thinking the other wouldn't notice. They always did. Claire sipped her soy half pack sugar coffee, he his caramel frappucino. Claire smiled at the similarities.

The break was needed. Right after the break training became mental. They were working with the animatronics now, and it wasn't pretty. People weren't being hurt too badly because Owen had fixed the paddock into an almost gymnastic arena. Pads were everywhere. But people were thrown, and often.

It was getting better though, people were only thrown when they let their fear get the better of them instead of using the techniques Owen had taught and retaught every time someone was hit. The doctor was on hand for the training, and Owen found himself avoiding the man's glare constantly. He also found himself avoiding breathing deeply, half because it hurt half because he wasn't sure he could.

They were now a week out from leaving. It was time to put together teams. They had spent the last week putting backpacks together with necessities while trying to keep everyone's load below 30 pounds, that included the state of the art jet pack that weighed in at 15 pounds. Owen had used the last two weeks that they had stopped marathon running to implement a shortened 6 mile run every morning with each person carrying 30 pound shoulder weights. The training should've been difficult, but compared to what they had done so far, it was very manageable.

Owen had Barry and a man named James Tolloway, that had served in the Marines and had graduated the Naval academy with Owen, come together and make teams based off abilities: strengths and weaknesses. But before he could start he knew it was time to have the talk with Zach. He spoke to Claire and Masrani about setting up a meeting.

It was after training one day when Owen pulled the young man aside.

"Hey Zach," Owen ran up to Zach who was flirting with Serena. Apparently his muscular growth and three months of being near her had given Zach some confidence.

Zach reluctantly turned away from Serena," Oh-uh hey, Owen." He tried to brush Owen off, Owen smirked a little.

"Zach we need to talk."

"Right now?"

"Yep, Masrani and Claire are waiting for us in the conference room," that snapped Zach upright, even Serena looked concerned.

After many refusals of information, Zach finally came angrily with Owen.

When they entered Masrani was talking to Claire, she was laughing lightly at whatever quips he was making. Owen smiled at her, allowing himself a moment to admire how gorgeous she was when she smiled. They had come a long way, but not long enough yet.

They turned to the men, "Owen, Zachary, come, come sit. I was just telling Claire about my whale sighting on the cruise I was on last month. Turns out it wasn't a whale, just my mother-in-law!" Owen laughed, Zach stayed silent.

"What's going on?" Zach cut in. They all grew serious.

"Sit my boy, we will discuss," Masrani waved them over. Zach took the chair next to Masrani, Owen sitting next to him facing Claire. She smiled at him hesitantly, he smiled back.

Claire looked to Zach then, "Zach, we need to discuss your roll on this expedition. We know you have trained hard, and we allowed this intentionally so that you could prepare to go on the trip, but also so you could be prepared if anything went wrong and you were at the resort in danger."

"So you decided to wait till I have invested myself completely in this to tell me that you don't want me to go. That you will make me stay?"

Masrani butted in, "Zachary, that decision is up to you and me, Claire and Owen are simply here to advise and give opinions."

Zach breathed out a little, "Ok, and what's your decision?"

"My decision? My decision, will be your decision, but I pray you look at all the options with great thought. I've asked Claire and Owen to put together their thoughts on it, Owen?"

"Yeah, alright. I'll be honest here. Zach has done a pretty remarkable job. He is at the top of the group in endurance, fighting, and running training. He also did very well in the educational program. He struggled a bit at weight lifting, but otherwise thrived. If I was thinking as a leader, I would want him on the team, but as the son and nephew of two people I care about, and as my friend I wouldn't want him to be out there. I'm afraid that doesn't get to play much of a part in his decision. But it should," Owen looked at Zach now, "Yes, you're prepared, but you should really consider what it would do to the people that care about you if you don't make it, if you're hurt or worse killed." Owen looked at Zach with an intense care in his eyes. Zach looked down, clenching his jaw.

"Ok, that's all I got," Owen said turning to Claire. She looked at him with soft eyes, thanking him for his words silently and acknowledging the pain that some other past had put behind those words.

"Claire?" Masrani implored her to give her part.

"Zach, Owen's right about all of it. I know you have done very well in this program. I know you have done better than any of us thought possible for someone your age. But that's just it, you are so young, you have so much more to give to this world. This is so dangerous. Your family loves you deeply, and Gray, what would Gray do if he lost you? Just please think about this from more than your perspective." Claire had reached across the table and took his hand.

It was silent. Zach's eyebrows were pressed together as he thought. No one pushed. They waited for him to give his decision.

He drew back his hand from Claire's, "Other people's perspectives? I know if I think of it from Gray's perspective my decision would be to stay, but Gray is in highschool now, going into senior year, just like I was when jurassic world became a shit show. That's the thing, if I look at it from other people's perspectives I can't just look at it from yours, or moms. I bet Serena's parents would like for her to run a chucky cheese instead of run after dinosaurs, I bet everyone here has someone who wished they would stay at home, stay safe." Claire looked over at Owen instinctively. Owen didn't miss the gesture. Zach went on, "I'm going. Not only am I ready, but it wouldn't be fair to anyone here if I stayed. It's not fair that I get a choice. Yes, they all signed up for this job, but they didn't sign out, neither will I. I have just as much to lose as they do."

Zach looked up at Masrani. Claire pressed her eyes closed and looked down. Owen sighed in resignation.

Masrani said, "The decision is made then."

Owen, James and Barry sat up in the coffee house for a full day Sunday laying out teams. They argued, discussed, bargained, and laughed a lot, but they did finally put together three teams. Each of them would lead one team. Owen had immediately required that Zach be with him, as he felt he was his responsibility. The other two said that to keep the peace and also because of the drive it will give Zach, Serena should be on Owen's team as well. That worked well anyways. They ended with 3 teams 10 personel each. Each team would have it's own group of animals to round up. The Intell team had used cameras to assess locations, and what animals had survived the Indominus, and the now parading T-Rex. The T-Rex was violent, but didn't kill for sport like the Indominus. Most animals were still thriving on the island, reproducing even.

Owen's team would go after the raptors and the T-Rex. Barry and James tried to argue this point, but Owen didn't budge a bit. It was a fight he needed to finish. Not to mention, Blue was still out there. They had caught his distinctive stripes in a video near the aviary. Owen's team would have to decide upon coming to the creatures if it was worth it to move them to an enclosed facility or if they should kill the animals. They would move these animals as well as the Suchomimus carnivorous dinosaur to the raptor inlet that was state of the art defense against the most aggressive beasts.

Barry's team would make secure the 3 enclosed facilities were viable, they would look at the integrity of the triceratops territory enclosed by electric metal fences, then the Gallimimus Valley which was similarly enclosed, and the Cretaceous Cruise area that was barred as well as segmented to separate some of the herbivores from the carnivores. He would push all of the dinosaurs into their respective territories with food and sound waves that would irritate the animals into movement, a Lowery invention.

James would come with Owen for most of the expedition, but would branch off towards the outer wall of the parks enclosure. The wall was put up at the end of the Jurassic park Disaster. It was not only closing the park off from the still active volcano, but Masrani hinted that it may have inhabitants that if uncontained could get out if that barrier was not checked for security. Owen, and Barry would join him at the end of their tasks.

It was three days away now. They had decided to use the two days before they left to rest and get mentally prepared. Everything else was in place. Owen has just finished guiding the animatronics back into their chargers when Claire came up to him. She was wearing a white tank top that was stuck to her with sweat, and short running shorts that showed off her long legs, toned by the last few months of training. He did his best not to reveal his burning desire for her. She was having similar thoughts: he wasn't wearing a shirt, a sheen of sweat covered his perfectly muscled body, his shorts tightening in the right places. They both gulped.

Owen broke the tension, "Hey."

She laughed.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" He looked embarrassed and wiped his face to get it off.

"No, I just-nothing, never mind, I was actually just wondering if you had plans tonight?"

He wasn't expecting that, it took half a breath out of him. He realized he wasn't breathing, and finally let out a breath.

"Owen? Are you ok?" Claire looked at him a little concerned, a little nervous.

"Uh-yeah, sorry, no, I don't have plans, I mean a shower and food is all I've planned, and even that it is in mixed order," he laughed out the last part, she giggled at him. It felt so good to hear her laugh at him.

"Ok, well, I was thinking of going to the botanical gardens, I know they've been in neglect for a few years now, but I figured it might still be worth looking at. I was actually wondering if you wanted to come with me, maybe we could bring some of the food from that chinese place and eat in there." She said it very rushed, he could tell she was scared.

"I mean of course you don't have to, I was just-"

"I'd love to." Claire looked up at that. He was smiling at her. In his head, he knew this was probably a bad idea, but he had lead with his head for the last 3 months and he may only have 2 more days left in this world to lead with his heart. What could a picnic in a garden with the woman who left him hurt? A voice in the back of his head whispered the answer, _It could hurt you, that's who it could hurt._

"Great," she breathed out through a smile.

"Want to meet outside the chinese place at 6? I'll order it to go and we can pick it up."

"Sounds good, I assume you remember what I like," He looked at her then, a silent confirmation going between their eyes, a reminder that he was still guarding from their past.

"Of course, General Tso and Fried rice, and if they have it, Thai Tea," Claire responded.

"You don't miss a beat do you, I'll see you at 6."


	9. Chapter 9: The Garden

The place was a jungle of every color imaginable, some colors so vibrant, so large in scale, they almost didn't seem like a color that could be named. They seemed like a new vision, a garden of life not meant for the human's eye scope. The glowing blue lights that specked around the trails path, lit up when the motion of feet on dirt came close. It was eerily beautiful, the sound of birds, cool crisp air, and echoes filled the mile long glass enclosure with the sound of life. It couldn't be described as breathtaking because it made breathing easy, it was omnipotent in its grandeur like the plants and the place had a wisdom of life that no man could fathom, the unkemptness only added to its strange wild beauty. It was wonder.

Owen and Claire gazed at the different plants to each side and the wildlife that flew above their heads with wide birds were colorful, all singing some age old tunes of their kind. Owen and Claire didn't speak, simply walked, the back of their hands absentmindedly grazed each others. Owen took her's in his without looking at her, almost like instinct had him do it. Claire felt his rough palm on hers with the same contentment it used to always bring her. She didn't look at him either. They both were falling in love with the world around them. Their interest in each other was so small beneath the bows of giant flowers that's scent enveloped them, their issues minimal next to tree trunks that could fit 10 big men in them if they were hollowed out. This place was built with the oldest plant life the park could find, some of it dug up down to the smallest root: redwoods, and yew, ferns and cypresses and planted in new ground. They were all there lining the paths amongst huge flowers: magnolia and, laurel bushes, and then so many flowers that couldn't be named by a the comparatively young human species, only the past knew them well. As they walked they were impressed not just with the beauty, but the power of the history of life that surrounded them.

" _Immortal,"_ Owen thought to himself.

As they walked they came to a waterfall that broke out of a stream that they'd both noticed winding around the path. At the bottom of the small fall was a patch of overgrown grass and benches that were overcome with vines. There was a larger glowing blue light in the bottom of the fall that lit up the water with blue splendor and radiated light to the bench area.

"Not too shabby for a picnic," Owen said breaking the silence of their wonderment.

Claire nodded with a quiet smile pressed to her lips. They both had dreamy eyes that looked to be seeing the world for the first time.

"I never had a chance to see this place before, when I was taking care of the raptors. I regret that now." Owen said out loud to himself.

Claire spoke, "I went to it when it was being made, the streams and waterfalls were here before the park came, the rest was dirt, that's now been filled with plant life. This place is more beautiful than I could ever have imagined. It may be a good thing they stopped care for it, nothing man made could look so much like- like-"

"Eden?" Owen guessed a word for the description she couldn't manage.

"Yes, I've never thought about what Eden would look like, but if I had this would be what I would've imagined."

As beautiful as this place was, it had taken a while for the chinese place to get them their take out and the walk wasn't short to the garden. They both hadn't eaten since 12. It was 8 p.m. now.

"So about that food," Owen voiced his hunger.

"Oh-ha-right, I'm starving."

They sat down on the vined bench. Owen with his legs dangling on either side. Claire with her whole body facing the falls, one leg crossed over the other. They dug in.

"So how are you feeling?" Claire said between a swallow and another spoonful of her sweet and sour soup.

"About what?" Owen asked over a mouthful of food, without looking up. Food was a priority, he wasn't going to be easily veered from it.

"I don't know, about everything, the expedition, the people, what we've done so far... your rib, the-"Claire was cut off by Owen's laugh.

"Ha, I see, you want to know about my rib, that was sneaky I'll admit. But it's fine, I think it's completely healed actually," he thought that may be too much of a lie, a little too much syrup for the pancake. Especially since at the moment he was having a hard time breathing because of eating the food, and never being able to gather a large enough breath between bites. He slowed down his attack on the general tso.

She eyed him suspiciously, but didn't press it. "Ok, if you're sure. What about the rest of it? Are you nervous for the expedition?"

She would do this a lot when they were together, probe. Owen would always ask her the question back to her instead of responding. She would get annoyed by it, but then he'd kiss her where her eyebrows came together. He would tell her that he wasn't interesting, and that she was more interesting than the whole world. She would blush and tell him he knew how to get the ladies. He'd laugh. Tell her if by ladies she meant herself then that was enough for him. It always ended in her telling him about a childhood memory, and he'd sit there and ask for every detail down to the paint on the walls. He knew her so well, but she cracked him sometimes too. She learned to ask open ended questions, and to remain silent to let him come to his answers. She'd ask questions that were passive, but filled with ways for him to answer. She did it then to learn why he was the way he is, but now, he wasn't sure what Claire was asking for.

"Um, well I suppose sure I'm nervous, but not scared. I'm just nervous we missed something or someone's not prepared and messes it up and hurts everyone. I'm nervous I haven't crossed off every box." He was speaking to her, but he was looking over at the waterfall. She could see the anxiousness in his eyes, in his clicking thumb on the non-existent raptor clicker, in the way his lower lip pinched in under his upper lip.

"I can understand that, but if anything I think you've crossed off more boxes than were necessary. We are ready. You are ready. If it's possible you're stronger than you were during the catastrophe: mentally and-" She laughed at herself before saying it, "and physically."

He gave her a devilish grin, "Ha- thanks. Don't tell me you've been checking me out Ms .Dearing. That's very inappropriate, you being my co-worker and all."

She looked up at the ceiling throwing back a breathless laugh, but vollied, "Don't tell me you _haven't_ been checking me out Mr. Grady, I don't wear those short shorts just for running." She gave her best devilish grin at that. He blushed: first, because she admitted to trying to impress him and second, because he was embarrassed. He had checked her out, against his will at first, but after a while he gave up on hating himself for being a man. If it wasn't enough that she was devastatingly beautiful, he had also loved the woman, it was only natural.

They were both blushing like idiots while eating their food, not tasting it, not doing anything, but thinking about the person a foot beside them.

Owen looked up finally, "So, how are _you_ feeling?"

He repeated her question to her. She didn't make an emotion to that, but smiled in her head. Knowing that if she actually smiled he'd notice and ask her why. She thought about the question.

"I'm not sure, on the one hand I'm ready for this park to be put back together, on the other hand I'm nauseatingly terrified-." Claire stopped, afraid she might let on too much. Owen didn't let it slide, "of the dinosaurs?" He gave her an out from admitting her real fears.

"Yes, yeah, the dinosaurs." She mumbled and took a bite of szechuan beef. Owen was disappointed at her short answer, but he understood enough.

"Well we will have ear pieces, if you need to talk to- talk to Zach or whatever, you could do that. If you ever want to talk to uh- Zach you can just press his head set number on the control panel and then press your earpiece, and uh- talk to him." Owen said it nervously, Claire didn't understand why he was so nervous to say that. Owen was hoping she'd catch on. She didn't.

"Uh- yeah I guess that'll be nice, not sure how much he'll want to talk to his nosy aunt when he has Serena's company." Claire laughed at her own words. Owen snickered, but realized the gap.

"I suppose not, actually what I'm meaning to say is uh-" Owen looked at Claire, she had a her head sideways in a confused look.

"I'm meaning to say is, if you ever want you- you can talk to me." He looked back at the waterfall quickly like it could make his admission less awkward. He felt a touch on his hand. She had covered it with her own.

"Thank you," she said it so genuinely. Her eyes were so blue in the light of the waterfall. Owen could feel his resolve loosen its grip. His eyes looked at her lips quickly and back up at her eyes, only to see her do the same.

"I'm not terrified of dinosaurs, Owen," Claire said meaningfully. The words confused him, what did that have to do with talking to him over a headset. She didn't wait for him to puzzle it out.

"You asked if I was scared of the dinosaurs, I'm not. I've seen them they're dangerous, and they can hurt and kill anyone, but that's just it. I know their intentions. I'm not scared of the dinosaurs, I'm scared of what they'll hurt or kill. What I'm terrified of is losing you.." she breathed out, "again."

"But-" he couldn't find the words to ask that burning question. The one that always stood between them. The answer she didn't know until that moment. _But, then why did you leave?_

"I left for the same reason I'm terrified now. I was afraid I'd lose you. Every other night I wake to a nightmare of you dying, I constantly feel lost when you're gone, I have the whole time since I left you. For some stupid reason, I thought if I left you before you could leave me, I thought I'd be free from how much I loved you. I could control the pain of losing you by doing it myself." Her eyes were glistening now, she was looking at the waterfall too. They both gazed at it like it was going to give them answers to everything.

"Why did you think you'd lose me?" Owen whispered.

She closed her eyes for a second, "I don't know, I just felt like you'd never need me like I needed you. I don't know, I thought it was all too perfect, like at the top of climbing a mountain, the sky is so beautiful everything is beautiful, every problem smaller than any problem you face, that was our love to me, but at such heights surely we'd fall."

Owen looked back at her, she continued to stare at the waterfall.

He breathed out, forgetting the pain in his rib, "Maybe we would've fallen together, no matter what shit happens, but you can't give up before you try." Owen was still whispering, but the pain was back in his voice. He was afraid he wasn't going to be enough again, that she was going to leave him sitting there staring at a blue waterfall.

A tear fell down her cheek, she wiped at it. "I guess I needed someone to have told me that, but I was too afraid to ask. Can you even be sure you would've been ready to say that then? Do you really think we could've figured it out?" She was asking genuinely, she said it as a question for back then, but he knew she was asking for now.

Owen took a deep breath ignoring again the pain in his ribs.

"I was going to propose to you." He said it. He finally said it.

Claire whipped her head around abruptly her eyes wide and questioning. She came upon his green eyes: open and true. She knew in that moment he wasn't lying. Her mouth opened a small breath escaped.

"Owen." Claire whispered, without having any other words to say. Just that. Just Owen.

It was quiet then. He reached up and put a strand of auburn hair behind her ear. He cupped her face, her eyes shut in anticipation as he drew her lips to his. His lips were warm, they were everything. He knocked the chinese food to the side, she smiled against his lips as he did it. His hand left her face as their lips moved softly over each other. It was so romantic, there was so much in the kiss: her leaving, the ring in the drawer, her fear of losing him, the pain, all of the pain, and both of their fear: their fear of what was to come. Neither of them could explain to the other what they were putting behind their lusting lips, but both knew there was a power behind it. The electricity of their passion grew with each second. It made for an all at once soft press and glide of lips to smashing of lips and tongue into a consuming kiss only to fall back into the softness in the next moment. From storm to calm to both, to just Owen and Claire. He moved his hands to her waist picking her up and pulling her into his lap. She let out a gasp as she went into the air and a groan when he moved his lips to her collarbone, and then to that place behind her ear. They knew each other so well, but this was a new kind of knowing. They were starting over. Letting go. When they finally broke apart Owen's hands were up her shirt drawing circle in the small of her back. Claire's fingers were holding his head to hers intertwined in his brown hair. Their lips still close together, their eyes shut, breathing in sync. They didn't speak.

"I've missed you so much," Claire whispered. Owen answered with a small kiss.

Finally, Owen picked Claire up into the air and held her until she had her feet placed on the ground firmly, he gave her one more lingering kiss. They broke a part to clean up the containers, and re-gather themselves.

Owen took Claire's hand in his, she leaned her head on his shoulder as they walked out of the gardens. They returned to their wonderment of the place. Then walked back to the resort. They broke apart when the stairs came to Owen's floor, kissed once. Claire went to her room. It was hilarious really, how in love they still were after this much time and pain. It was all together tragic too, how they were to be separated by incredible danger so soon after finding each other.

 **Author's Note: So, I realize I didn't add an author's note to the last chapter :/ I was in a bit of a hurry to get it out. Ok, so there you have it. I wanted these two to be back together before he left. I do have a lot more in store for them as they are what makes writing this so fun to me. Anyways, into the park we go in the next chapter. I realize this is only one scene, but it needed to be a big deal, so I made it a big deal. Hope you like it! The faves, follows, and reviews are so very appreciated! Review please!**


	10. Chapter 10: Just Press the Green Button

**Author's Note: Yeah, I know. It's been a literal year almost. I don't expect anyone to read this because of that, I am very sorry. I do hate when people do this. I just kept pushing it off because school started. Again, I am sorry. I hope you enjoy what's to come though.**

 _Rexy threw out his claw and scratched a long diagonal gash into Owen's chest, the blow flung him across the courtyard, a few feet from Claire._

 _She ran to him. The blood was everywhere. When she reached him she clung to him, lifting him into her lap. Her white skirt, crimson stained._

 _"Owen? Owen, please, please look at me."_

 _His eyes were fading, but he looked up._

 _Blood started to come out of the corners of his mouth, he stuttered over it, " I though-" he coughed," thought we were gonna stick together, for- for survival." His eyes went out. The green was shallow, his chest stopped rising._

Claire burst awake, that same dream from three months ago woke her. She was sweating, and her eyes were wide. This time when she usually would've kept herself from reaching for the phone to call him to hear his voice, this time she got up.

She ran down 2 flights of stairs to the fifth floor. Her heart was still beating like it did when she ran from the T-Rex the first time.

 _I'll just knock and see he's alive, make sure he's alive then I'll go._

She knocked twice.

knock-knock.

Owen heard the sound come from his door. He looked over at the clock it was 2:20 a.m. He was going over mission plans and escape routes because he couldn't sleep. Possibly he couldn't sleep because he was thinking of mission plans and escape routes, either way he was awake.

Owen got up from his table of papers and went to the door.

 _This was a bad idea, he's alive. He's just asleep. He needs to be asleep they leave in a day. He needs to rest. He's alive._ Claire tried reassuring herself.

Claire started to turn away when the door cracked open. She turned back to the door. She let out a visible sigh of relief when she saw Owen.

"Claire? What are you doing up?" Owen said through clear green eyes. _At least he wasn't sleeping._ She thought.

"I-I had a dream," she said looking at him like he might disappear if she looked away. He saw the glisten in her eyes from when she'd been crying. A look of recognition came over his face. "Come here," Owen said without hesitation opening his arms to her. She went like a magnet. She slipped her arms around his waist holding onto him tightly. Small tears fell down her face. He pulled away enough to reach down and wipe them.

"I'm alive. I'm fine. We're fine" He whispered to her as he bowed his forehead to hers. She breathed in the scent of him: leather, trees, and a subtle sweetness, almost like molasses.

Time passed as he waited for her breathing to slow.

Her arms still wrapped around his back she became acutely aware of the muscles that smoothed and firmed under the softly worn navy T he was wearing as he breathed.

Drawing away, he saw her cheeks turn that faint blush she always got when she was noticed as well the big T-Shirt she was wearing, or more he noticed the pants she wasn't wearing.

Owen couldn't resist. He kissed her quickly. She was initially surprised and made a sound. _Just like the first time I kissed her._ Owen thought.

He brought his hands from her back and took her face in them, softly moving his thumbs in circles over her cheekbones as he kissed her.

Owen lifted her up from his hands wrapping around her waist, like a fragile doll. She let out a sigh. She wrapped her legs around his midsection as her hair fell around their faces. It had grown out a bit in the last three months. The curls now tickled Owen's neck. He turned them both into his room, closing the door behind them.

Lying her down, he paused as he hovered over her on the bed. He knew she wanted this. He could see it in her dilated eyes, but he couldn't. Yes, he wanted to. He wanted to let his walls that she built brick by brick every day she was gone to come down. He did. But there was too much pain there, not enough recovery.

He stood up. He could see immediately in the crease between her brows that Claire was disappointed.

"What's wrong?" she asked still breathing a bit heavy.

"I'm sorry, Claire. I just- I just-" he looked away, " I need more time," he finished.

She stood up with her calves backed to the bed and her body snug against his. She wrapped her arms around his waist.

"You don't need to apologize for what I did. It's ok," Claire said. Owen turned and hugged her to his chest holding her head at his collar bone.

"Could you stay? I don't want to go there yet, but would you stay," He whispered into her hair.

"I don't think you could make me leave," Claire said.

They unwrapped just long enough to slip under the covers. Owen lied on his back and Claire curled into his side. Like a lock to a key the fell asleep together. The sleep that had escaped them both for so long finally found them again.

In the morning, Claire woke to the feeling of warmth leaving her. When she heard a shower running relief is all she felt. She always had this feeling that he was just about to leave. Thinking about it, it became clear she may have some underlying psychological issues that seem to try to destroy all of her relationships. That would have to wait for another time, it always seemed like it would have to wait.

While she was going on tangents in her head about Freud, Owen came out in just a towel. He was looking around the room not realizing that she was awake. Finally, spotting what he was searching for he made his way across the room so that the light from the open window shined on him as he slipped on his watch. _God, he's so beautiful._

 _"_ What?" He turned, a bit startled to see her up. _Oh my god, I said that out loud._

"Oh, nothing. Just- just do you want to go get coffee?" Clair rushed out.

Looking at her a bit skeptically, he responded, "I would, but I have to go try out the jet packs-"

"Wait, what? I thought that it was a last resort?" she cut in.

"Well yeah, they are, but if no one knows if they work, or how they work that won't be much of a last resort at all," said Owen as he wiggled a shirt on over his head.

"How are you going to test them?" confusion and a bit of something else creeping into her voice.

"Just gonna press the green button, I guess," Owen laughed.

"I'm coming, I know how to fly planes, I am probably the most certified to try a jet pack for the first time," said Claire as she rolled out of bed moving to leave. Claire's dad was a pilot, he taught her to fly when she was 8, but she got a license for it the year after he died when she was 21. She always felt like flying was one way she could still be with him.

"Uh no that's-"

"If I do recall correctly, I am the manager of operations, so you actually don't have a choice?" she quirked an eye at him as made his way over to her, challenging him to argue it.

Backing down, he came up to her, and bending his head so that his lips were hovering in front of hers, "You know , I do believe you may be on a power kick, and if it ends in you getting hurt, I will have to punish you for it." A smile on both their faces, he gave her a short sweet kiss.

"Well, I have a much better chance of staying up right than you, if I recall correctly you're the one withe the broken rib," she said as she picked up a sock that she'd rolled off in the night.

Laughing, he muttered,"Touche" as she walked out. When the door closed he felt the rib, the pain no less than before. He wasn't ready to be with her yet, but he would be lying if the thought of exerting that type of effort on his rib wouldn't be incredibly painful too. It wasn't healing properly, he refused to think what the consequences could be with the mission looming so close.

Later that day, Owen, Claire, and Lowery were standing at the steps of the innovation center.

"Look its the original three, The OG Three, if you will," said Lowery as Claire strapped on the pack.

Owen adjusting it on her shoulders, said "I won't actually."

"Oh do you like three amigos better, or three musketeers," said Lowery.

Rolling her eyes, Claire responded, "You'd think the state of the art jet pack might draw the attention of the tech nerd, but not so."

"I've already deconstructed the whole thing, and put it back together. So I wouldn't say it didn't hold my interest ever, just on to new things, you know, the next horizon, if you will," said Lowery as he looked seriously into the sun only to pinch his eyes down as the light magnified through his glasses.

"Once again, I will not," said Owen completing strapping her pack. "So what's the plan? How are we going to safely test this?"

"Uh, well I hadn't thought of that yet," said Lowery.

"Can think of stupid band names, but can't figure out important plans, noted," said Owen smiling.

"I don't think it'll be too difficult. I'll just lift off a bit and then figure out from there," said Claire as she examined the control panel.

"I don't think it'll be that simple-"

Before Owen could finish the sound of rushing air filled his ears, and Claire was balancing like a super hero above their heads. A smug smile pressing across her face.

"Just press the green button, as you said."

He could only laugh.

 **Author's note: And now we begin the mission.**


	11. Chapter 11:It Begins

The day had finally come.

4:00 AM flashed on Owen's alarm clock. Legs swinging over the side of his bed, he felt almost giddy as he hit the alarm off.

He knew it would be dangerous. He knew it would be painful at times. He knew that there was a lot he didn't know. But this is who he is, no matter what might come, he is going to get back to doing what he loves. Blue was still out there.

When he was a Seal the day before deployment he would always make a note of doing all the things he loved most so that when it would get its hardest he could think back to the good.

He had cow tails, long pulled caramel with sugar inside, specifically to eat before they left. He would get a caramel frap with Barry at 6 and would find one of the tech guys that brought his dog. The dog was a border collie Australian shepherd. The dog, named Lacy, reminded him of the one he had as a kid. He'd give Lacy a good belly rub and then prepare to leave, all before 9 pm.

But there was one other thing he knew he needed to do.

So after a shower, a longer one than usual, appreciating the warm, clean water, he walked down a level to Claire's room. Giving a knock, he waited for her.

"Morning," he said before she could open her eyes halfway to the light beyond the door.

Once her sea blue eyes reached his, a smile split his face.

"Owen, it's 4 AM," she groaned.

"4:21, actually," before saying anything else he walked up to her and picked her up. Letting out a yelp, she went into the air, but as if muscle memory had kicked in, her legs wrapped around him before a half second slipped by.

Startled awake, he could feel her heart beat thrumming through her.

"Owen, what the hell," she said a bit breathlessly.

"I just wanted to do that one more time," he said looking into her eyes.

Something flashed across her eyes, "One more time, You know you're coming back right?" She said looking at him angrily. He thought it very cute to see her straddling him, while also trying to yell at him.

He chuckled,"Yeah, I know. I just wanted to see you in the morning one more time before I go, because it'll be three weeks before I can see the sight again."

That's what he needed. He needed to see her and remember her in his t shirt, a little mad, and just as beautiful as he remembered before dinosaurs became his daily visual.

"The 'sight' of me, is this funny to you, waking me up like this," she said annoyed.

"No, not funny, gorgeous," he smiled. She blushed.

Even if it was 4 AM, he was right that he'd be gone today, the idea made her stomach drop and the only way to stop it was to press as close to him as possible. So she let her guard down, kissing him until he finally let her go back to bed. It didn't matter though, she couldn't fall back to sleep with the words One more time ringing through her head. She had a feeling she wouldn't be sleeping much more anyways.

Everyone gathered together at the Innovation Center. Packs had been assembled. The Gate would be opened in 10 minutes and it would be open for 1 minute allowing for the 30 of them to run in as fast as possible, but closing before anything out there could get in. The idea was practical, but a bit cold when the thought that they'd be trapped out there with said beasts nonetheless. Nothing about this was warm though. It was a terrifying mission. Yes, they trained. Yes, they were as ready as they could be, but how do you prepare for what awaited them. Courage would be the most vital asset any one member could possess, Owen just hoped they all had enough to last them the completion of the mission.

"Alright, we have 5 minutes now till the door opens everyone form a line," Owen yelled to the group."Once we get on the other side we will break into groups and push on from there," he finished.

The group assembled a line. Those not going stood to the side nervously shifting as if not sure to say goodbye, or to wish them luck, unsure of what should be said before a group of their closest friends go willingly into the most dangerous place in the world.

"Well knock 'em dead, kids," said Lowery finally.

The group laughed. The tension loosened a bit.

Claire stood behind the group. Staring outright at Owen, trying to remember everything about him. Scared that if she missed a detail, he'd slip away.

Turning from the group, he saw her pursed brow. 2 minutes before the door opened.

He tried to give her a smile that would reassure her. She realized he was looking at her and saw his sheepish smile. She gave a half smile before a pain flashed across her eyes.

She almost ran from behind the group of people watching.

She wanted to throw her arms around his neck, have his arms instinctively wrapped around her as she kissed him hard. She wanted to blush at the sound of a few whistles and yells from the group around them couldn't part them. 30 seconds.

From across the landing he saw that familiar pain in her eyes. She would always get it when she looked at the scars on his back or when she'd shake him out of a nightmare. He wanted to smooth the crease between her

Just then a loud beep cut across the landing, the door lifted. Owen turned back to the group as the first in line was squeezing through the opening.

The door closing almost as soon as it opened. As his broad shoulders snuck through, the wall shutting behind him, she felt half her breath catch in her stomach. She knew she would only breathe out when he was back in her arms.

She was left staring at the cement where he had been standing only moments earlier.

On the other side, Barry did a scope with a few of the others to layout their positions and begin correspondence with Head Quarters through the ear pieces.

Owen and James laid out the map creating lines based off the actual land to decipher their paths. The animatronics were craned over the side of the wall and were checked by the tech members of each squad.

Finally all finished, the night had fallen. Camping just outside of the wall it seemed their first day would be no different than any night before except that it would be slept on the jungle floor.

10 people stood watch while the other 20 slept, rotating every 3 hours.

Owen took first watch.

Staring into the jungle, he looked for flashes of scales, or ruffling of leaves. He knew that if something dangerous was lurking behind leaves and darkness, he would need to be alert. He could sense a nervousness from the men and women that were on watch with him.

Speaking so that those near him could hear, he said, "I don't want to be the one to tell you that animals can smell fear. I think you all know that, but I also won't be the one to lie to you, and say there's nothing to fear out there.

But what I can tell you is that humans have this funny way of pretending they aren't as wild as the jungles, oceans, and world around them. We teach ourselves to feel civilized, superior, but in doing so we have distanced ourselves from the truth of our foundation. We are no greater. We are no stronger. We are just as susceptible to the whims of mother nature as any beast. We are not a different wild, we are just different animals. Just the same difference as a bee is to a wasp, are we different from dinosaurs.

So I won't tell you not to be scared, I will tell you instead that we are nature too, and these animals no matter how fierce are in this world the same as you. We fear what we don't know, I know that we are animals just as they are and we are more dangerous than they could ever imagine."

When he finished and the sound of cascadas cascaded back into the air, he saw the shoulders of his squad relax. He felt a confidence brew between them.

When the morning came they started off in their different directions. Before Owen was 30 minutes on his path, he felt goose bumps rise on his neck. Walking at the head of the group he turned suddenly, Zach knocking into him.

 _Owen, we can see movement to your left. It looks pretty big whatever it is._ Lowery's voice came over his earpiece.

"Argh- What the he-"

Zach was cut off by the look on Owen's face. He looked like one of his own raptors, poised to pounce.

Whispering, he said, "There's something, or somethings in the trees over to the left."

Using signals, he indicated to the group to form a semicircle flank, spreading 10 meters between every two people, as each person would stay with one person.

Owen's partner was a woman named Paula, dark skinned, with a buzz cut that had stripes to her scalp that crossed from her temple to the back of her earlobe, she was a fearsome person.

As they crouched in the bush, he looked over to her, "We will be the first to make a move."

She nodded while still keeping her eye on the scope of her tranq.

Metriacanthosaurus, or Metris as they called them prior to the Jurassic World catastrophe, were dinosaur eating, terrifying animals that in containment were interesting to look at for their camo like stripes, but at the moment were a few of the last animals Owen was hoping to come upon on the first day.

The group did not know that was what they were dealing with. After all, the camo was quite effective in actual practice, but Owen knew that would have to be it.

Holding up the number three, he informed the group what animal it was they were dealing with, they had created a sign system for situations such as this.

Thump- thump- thump

The Metris was running in their direction.

"NOW" Owen yelled.

Guns blared as they all jumped from their hiding spots, two darts hit the target. Swaying the Metris tried to bare its teeth only to have his eyes roll back in his head.

The group relaxed. That was a mistake.

Turning too late, the two to Owen's right looked right into the eyes of a female Metris. Darts flew out at her hitting her, but not before she had clawed them both to the ground. Falling, as the tranqs set in, the two, a man named George, and another named Wallace just escaped being crushed.

Blood from the claw began to seep from George's shoulder, Wallace was less impacted as the claw was at the end of its swing when it came to him and only his knee had a bit of a cut.

Running over, Denise, the medical member of the group began to stop the flow from George's shoulder.

Owen barked at the rest of them to form a circle around the three as best as possible.

Wallace wasn't moving. Shock, Owen guessed.

 _We can't see you the camera you're at has a leaf in front of it, What happened?_ Lowery buzzed into Owen's ear.

Keeping his searching gaze, he whispered back, "We got the first one, but there was its mate behind us. She's tranquilized now, but two guys were clawed."

When it seemed clear there would be no other attacks, Owen turned to the wounded.

 _Is everyone ok?_ It was Claire this time.

"I think George will need stitches. Wallace is fine," He surveyed quickly.

"This is going to hurt a lot at first, but then it will get better, bite this," reaching for a small stick on the ground, Denise handed it to George.

Putting on his bravest face he put the stick between his teeth. The sewters went in smoothly, his teeth only made a small dent in the stick.

"Lowery, I thought you said you had visual on the whole park," Owen said a bit of anger seeping through.

 _Well, I mean we can see every 10 meters through dense brush, but there's hundreds of miles and only 10 of us at head quarters. I don't know if you expect us to have 100 eyes, but even though I do consider myself god like,in fact, I am not God._ Lowery bit back.

"I need you to do better than that, Lowery. We got lucky, you may think this is some video game you're at the controller with, but in real life you don't get a reboot when you get hit. You die and that's that." Owen said

Silence.

 _Owen, you can't put that on him. We are doing what we can._ Claire again.

He didn't respond.

Back at head quarters, Claire surveyed as Barry made quick work of the herbivores hearding them with sound waves no differently than cattle.

James was making swift but careful progress towards the wall. Watching him, she recognized similarities to Owen in his wariness. Military. He was a marine. His mission seemed the most uncertain of the three, but so far he had only dealt with a few semi-dangerous Suchomimuses. The plan was to tranquilize them and use the wrist shocks watches that lowery and his team created to shock the animals to move only in the direction of their specific containment sectors. Headquarters controlled the gates to the sectors. It was a bit cruel. But they didn't have the time or the money to think of a more humane tactic. It was affective. When Owen had heard the plan before, he had argued it to the ground, but Claire told him that unless he'd rather them die because of abandonment, they'd have to survive this way.

Watching from HQ, Claire could still see the conflict in his shoulders everytime they put down another animal. But she couldn't imagine letting him or anyone go out there without a way to control those prehistoric beasts.

Sometimes when she'd spot the T-Rex in a camera far off from Owen, terror would trickle down her spine. They were getting closer and closer. The T-Rex looked hungry too. Getting desperate, Rexy began to get vicious about kills. Claire wasn't sure how many tranquilizers would be need to bring her down, but she didn't think there'd be enough.

Owen had the same thought. The tranqs worked quick but they wore off quick too. They had already had a few close calls when putting on the wrist shocks. Once, Paula was putting it on a terodactyl when it woke up as she was strapping it, if Owen hadn't been watching she would've died.

Zach and Serena had become the second in command to Owen. Proving themselves to be the most athletic of the bunch second only to Owen and Paula.

It was clear that Serena knew Zach was interested in her. It wasn't clear if it was returned but it surely wasn't shunned.

Owen watched amused as Zach pulled every move in the book to impress her.

 _You know, I think you pulled that one before too._ Claire spoke in to Owen's ear piece. Owen laughed. Zach had just pulled off his shirt pretending to look at something on his back, while simultaneously flexing. Oh and all of it right in front of Serena.

It was night time, they were now a few miles out on Rexy, with her feeding, sleep wasn't an option.

Laughing he responded,"Well, I don't believe I ever did that. Subtlety is key."

 _Oh, subtlety is it? I think it unlikely that when you first met me and then decided in the next moment to ask me out, that you were being very subtle._

"Well being direct has never lead me astray before, but I'm not one to try to use my body to impress."

 _That's a straight lie,_ Claire laughed.

"Are you saying that you've been checking me out?"

 _No comment._ He could almost see her side quirked smile.

He laughed, stopping abruptly to cough.

 _Are you getting sick?_

"No, no, think something just caught in my throat," he lied

 _I miss you._

"You're just saying that cause you're thinking of me shirtless," he smiled.

 _You're right._

"Go to bed Claire, it's late"

 _You're not sleeping, why should I?_

"Because I miss you too, and I won't be able to kiss away the crease between your brows that you have right now, if you worry yourself to death."

He could hear her smirk through the phone : _Good night,Owen._


	12. Chapter 12: The Original T-Rex Paddock

As Owen and his team approached the original T-Rex paddock from the first park where Lowery had spotted the Rexy last, a nervous humming fell over everything.

James and his pack had left Owen yesterday having made it to the end of the monorail. They turned north to the center of the island. The smaller group against the most fearsome beast felt ill advised, but the park was running out of time and they had to proceed.

Now, standing outside of the paddock, Owen and his team began planning their moves. This would be easier than expected if Rexy stayed in the paddock, and the control doors could be brought back to functionality.

"Nothing about this will be easy," said Owen. The group zoned in on him making sure to catch every important piece of advice before such a dangerous mission.

"Zach, you and Serena are going to accompany me and Paula to the back of the enclosure. Our team name will be Alpha. We are going to use our sonar shields to push sound into different areas of the paddock to attract Rexy.

"Team Beta will be Samantha and Tim. You are going to run up into the paddocks external control room and see if they can get those doors to close. If they can, we will use the stairwell in the back of the paddock that leads up to one of the windows and jump out of the back.

"Team Gamma, Sean and Kyle will be back there with the net between four trees hooked up to catch us," he finished.

"What happens if the paddock doors don't work?" Tim asked shifting his eyes between Owen and the dirt plan drawn in the ground.

"I will yell Fail Safe and everyone will come from their different positions and shoot as many tranqs as you have until the beast comes down."

That plan did not ease anyone's mind.

Listening over the prompt Claire could practically see Owen's strong jaw and resolute eyes trying to imbue confidence in his crew.

She bit her bottom lip hoping the pressure might distract her from her frantic heartbeat.

After about an hour of silent preparation, the group walked the last half mile to the T-Rex paddock.

Whispering, Owen said, "On my mark, we go in-five" he marked the seconds off with each finger.

"And go."

Tranqs in hand, Owen, Paula, Serena and Zach made their way into the paddock. The control room could only see what was visible on park cameras, but since the Original T-Rex paddock had been closed off during jurassic world's creation camera's were sparse and there were none inside the paddock.

On cue, Lowery said what everyone knew better not to say, "So this is either going to go horribly wrong, or there will be a miracle. Which in my experience, this whole jurassic thing has never had one of those so-"

"Shut the hell up," Claire said before he could recite anymore of her own internal monologue.

The control room fell as silent as the group in the paddock.

By this point Team Alpha was entering the paddock. Team Beta was in the paddock's control room working with HQ's control room on how to close the paddock gates when-

"What the hell?" Zach's voice came over the control room monitors.

"Shh- we don't want to spark Rexy's attention" Owen snapped back.

"I don't think that's going to be an issue."- Serena said.

Claire couldn't wait for this back and forth to end, "What's going on?"

"The T-Rex is dead," said Zach.

Owen was already halfway to the other side of the paddock but turned back to see for himself.

That's when he heard the sound of a dinosaur stirring, ever so faintly from his left.

Softly he said, "Zach, what shape is the T-Rex in, how did it die?"

"It was killed. I mean it looks like it was beaten to death. But it's weird-"

"What?"

"Well, it's not like whatever killed it ate any of it, just killed the poor beast and left."

Claire sucked in a breath. So did Owen.

The Indominus Rex killed for sport.

"We aren't alone in here." Owen said back.

"Owen, we have the lift doors lights on, we think they are operational. Should we go ahead and close them?" Samantha said through the ear pieces.

"Alright listen closely, Zach and Serena we don't have time to get to the back of this place if we are in here with what I think we are in here with.

Get back through the paddock doors, make absolutely no noise.

"Sam, the moment they are out of here close those doors," said Owen.

"Ok, but what are-

"Owen Grady, if your plan is to die, I swear I will kill you myself"- Claire cut off Samantha.

There was a small pause.

"I am close enough to proceed with the original plan. If in fact I am wrong about what animal is in here, it won't be a problem."

 **"And if you are not wrong?" she said.**

But he was already moving to the back of the paddock.

"Ok, we are out,"- Serena said.

"Close the door, Samantha."- Owen said under his breath.

At that moment, a drop of water fell next to Owen's shoe.

It wasn't water.

He felt the heat of the Indominus breath sink down over his head. _Shit._

Just then the sound of tons of metal moving against rusted hinges provoked the Indominus' attention and it swung its head away from Owen.

It let out a loud roar, filling everybody's headsets and the whole control room.

Owen took the chance to run full speed in the direction of the ladder.

His head set filled with everyone's voices asking, shouting, scrambling to figure out what to do, what was going on.

Zach and Serena made it out and the Indominus slammed into latched steel.

Zach stood outside of the now closed paddock slamming on the paneling. Hoping the noise would keep the Indominus attention away from Owen.

Owen was mere meters from the ladder when he saw it. The ladder was destroyed.

"The ladder is broken, is there anyother way out of here, anyway at all?" Owen asked.

"None that are in the floor plans, we are looking-

"Man, run-

"Hide-

"Owen, get out of there now-

"What's going on-

Owen realized then he was alone in this. Panic would solve nothing.

The Indominus began to realize its attempt to break through the steel could be revisited later. He had prey to attend to.

Owen was looking for any solution. He was almost without hope when he spotted a latch in the floor a few feet away. The handle peaking out from beneath the leaves, he didn't hesitate.

The Indominus was on top of him by the time he reached the latch. He threw it open and jumped inside right as the indominus swiped at his head.

He fell a few feet before hitting cement. Looking up through the now ripped off door. The Indominus was trying to get its head into the small cavity.

Rolling into his side, Owen coughed until blood came spilling out. Once he caught his breath he looked up at the now empty hole that the Indominus gave up on getting through.

He smiled, "Look at that, I have found your one goddam weakness. You can't change size. Surprised, psycho Wu didn't think of that. Guess I owe him one."

Breathing unevenly he realized what was missing, the noise. Not the Indominus roars, but the head set. He reached up to his ear to find it empty. Turning on his flashlight he panned the ground, it had fallen out in his jump down the hole.

He slipped it into his ear, pressed the button and said, "Well, it seems like no matter how much caramel I eat I am still smaller than a Dino."

A gasp came through the head piece, "Oh my god, you son of a bitch," said Claire.

"Love you too."

"Hey man, I love you too," Lowery said.

"Oh shit, didn't realize I had the whole room still," Owen said back. He heard a collective laugh threw the group. He laughed and caught himself in a cough. Maybe jokes weren't the best move.

He heard the lines cut out and thought his head piece went dead for a second.

"They're gone now," Claire whispered.

It was silent.

"The ladder, it was destroyed, I'm guessing the fight between the I-rex and T-rex broke it. I really wasn't trying to be a hero," Owen said.

"Maybe you weren't planning on dying, but don't pretend like you weren't being a damn hero," her words came out between small gasps. She was crying, she was trying to hide it. You can't hide things from someone that knows you better than himself.

"As usual, you are right."

"I know.

"How are you going to get out of there?"

He flipped his flashlight back on. It met a cement wall to his right but when he turned to his left, "That's curious."

"What?" Claire said.

It lit up to reveal a tunnel that led not towards the park, but towards where above ground a wall barred off the volcano part of the Island from the park. A wall, that James' team was currently checking for damage. By the length of the tunnel it looked like it went on for at least a couple thousand yards.

"Think I may have found a way out, but I'm not sure exactly where _out_ will be."


	13. Chapter 13:The Video

Author's Note: Slow and steady

Claire watched the screen in the HQ. All that was visible was leaves and if you squinted hard enough you might could see a little of the left wall of the paddock. She was staring that spot down thinking if she focused in on it she might attain x-ray vision and see through to Owen. At the moment she was flipping through images of him doing her best to block out the image that was pushing itself to the forefront of her mind: blood seeping from his chest, eyes shallow.

She blinked twice and turned away. Lowery noticed.

"Hey, it's alright. I mean it wouldn't be if it was me, but its human kinds equivalent of Superman in their. He'll be fine," Lowery said leaning down to look her in the eyes beneath her overly grown bangs.

She picked her head up, eyes glassy, but no tears had escaped. "Thanks, Lowery."

"Well what am I here for if it's not for comic relief and a sprinkle of pubescent anxiety," he smiled back.

The screen changed. The rest of the team had traversed back to within camera shot. Claire watched as Zach leaned heavily on Serena limping into view.

"What happened to Zach?" Claire asked. Scolding herself for paying so little attention to her own family.

Dr. Mcgrath, who with all of patients out on perilous mission had decided to see the damage done himself, took note of all conditions, "He's fine, we spoke and he twisted his ankle in his run out of the paddock. Paula has a wrap in her medical unit."

Claire breathed out, but still dialed in his head set number, "I'm so sorry I didn't even realize to check on you, I was-"

"Claire, if I was listening to the person I love almost die, I wouldn't be concerned with me either. Don't sweat it." He cut her off.

After the adrenaline began to wear off, the team got to work on game plans and strategies to retrieve Owen.

Meanwhile, Owen was exhausted from his flight from death. Lying beneath the opening of the paddock floor, he couldn't muster the will to get moving just yet.

He hadn't heard anything from Claire in a while, but figured they were all probably scheming dangerous ways to get him out without his hero complex in the way.

Finally with a loud grunt he pushed himself off the cement and into a sitting position. That's when he really noticed his surroundings.

The tunnel was sterile. There was no dirt except the splattering Owen had brought with him. There was no bugs or vines, nothing. This struck Owen as odd considering the paddock itself should be as old as this tunnel underneath it. With that reasoning there is no reason to believe that this tunnel wouldn't be just as overgrown as its upper floor. The only way it would be clean is if someone cleaned it but no one would have done that in years.

Unless-

It hit Owen. Someone has been here. Someone may have even built this tunnel. And they were here not very long ago.

He thought to tell Claire, but just as he was about to. He spotted a camera in the top corner of the tunnel. It's red light flashing. He was being recorded. He quickly looked away hoping whoever was watching thought he was still ignorant of their presence.

"Hey guys, I'm going to start seeing if there's a way out down here. I'll probably be silent for a while, but I'll call in an hour. If you don't hear from me, maybe just check in just in case." He said as cool as possible.

He began walking down the passageway, his flashlight leading him. The tunnel went from around 7 feet tall to so small he was crawling on all fours. He thought his crawl would be long, but it took about 10 minutes before he came to a door with a steel wheel above his head. He turned it easily.

 _A steel door would've rusted by now if this was as old as it should be._ He thought.

He opened up the latch to find himself eye level with the jungle floor.

"Guys, I'm on the other side." No response.

"Do you copy?" Not even a muffle.

"Hello, if this is a joke it's kind of funny, but I'd love it to stop now." Silence.

Deciding that maybe the signal was lost so low to the ground he pulled himself out of the tunnel.

Looking for some direction he did a 360 and came face to face with the wall that enclosed the park. Not too surprised by it, he instead stared up at it, thinking his jet pack may be his best option out.

He was about to call in to HQ again when everything went black.

When Owen doesn't call after an hour later nobody panics. When he doesn't call after an hour and a half, and he doesn't respond to the team's calls, a bit of panic sneaks in. But when he doesn't respond five hours later, even when Zach's team goes back to as close to the paddock as possible and calls him, panic is the only word of reference.

James' team and Owen's team sans Owen of course, begin to plot rescue attempts from scaling the wall, to re-entering the paddock, but in the end they settle on taking a helo over the wall to see if maybe the guy passed out on the other side or to find the entry way into that mysterious tunnel to look for Owen.

It is when the helo takes off the ground that island mail is delivered to HQ. Which wouldn't be consequential, but one particular package addressed to Ms. Dearing is.

She is talking with the helo aviators over the headset about options when her assistant, Julie, hands her mail. She sets it down not caring to look it till later. She absently rifles through it as she waits to hear from the aviators. When her eye catches on small red package marked important.

Inside there's a flash drive and nothing else.

She hands it to her assistant Julie and asks her to watch it and get back to her on what she needs to know. Lowery hears, and considering his major crush on any living girl, he asks to join to which she consents.

The Helo is circling around the paddock looking for signs of Owen when Julie and Lowery come running into HQ.

"Everyone stop what you are doing." Lowery yells. Most people ignore him as it is Lowery.

"What the hell, Lowery," Claire turns to him.

"Claire, I am not kidding you are going to need to see what is on this drive and you need to tell that helo to get out of dodge of that paddock."

"You're scaring me, what is it?" Claire said, catching sight of a very pale Julie.

Without letting her finish, Lowery pushed an IT guy out of his way from the control computer. He pushed in the drive and it immediately began to play.

Dr. Wu flashed onto screen. Until now everyone thought he was dead.

The doctor had sweat running down his face, his eyes scanned back in forth as he read, clearly reading off of some off screen prompter.

"Hello, many of you know me as . I am here to inform you that you're literal experiment of a mission, must end now. If it does not, if you continue to explore land that is no concern to your recommission of this park. You will suffer severe consequences. Disband the team lead by James Tolloway, and any other attempt to cross the wall. If you do not, any person or machinery caught near or over the wall will be destroyed. To prove we are serious we have taken a prisoner," he finished. His adam's apple slowly bobbing down over a swallow.

The screen flipped to show a man with his hands bound with steel rings hanging the hung up to the ceiling. His toes barely touching the ground, he wobbled to keep the chains from pulling his arms out of their sockets. Over the video came a new voice,"He is going to hang there for as long as it takes you to get the hell away from our wall."

Claire watched as the man lifted his head. She knew the moment the video began, but until then she had not allowed it to be true. Now looking at the pixelated image of his distinctive form she felt nausea rack her body. The video cut off. She ran to the bathroom and heaved until she blacked out.


	14. Chapter 14: and forever

_He was standing in front of Claire. She was on the opposite side of a glass pane. He called her name she didn't say anything. He started pounding on the glass, but she did not even notice him._

 _She turned her back to him and started talking to a group of people he hadn't see there before._

 _Drip-Drip_

 _Her voice came through as a warble through water, "As you can see, this is one of if not the most impressive aspects of our park. It took four years to build, but in here we house an entire family of Indominus Rex-"_

 _Drip-Drip_

" _Wait, what-" Owen began to say. But then a roar cut through his thoughts. He turned to see the Indominus Rex a half a mile across from what now he knew to be a I-Rex paddock_

 _Drip-Drip_

" _-We currently are working with the US department of homeland security and in an attempt to cut down prison capacity and sort out our needs for a massive case of the munchies that this family of Indominus has, we send in death row inmates as food."_

 _Owen listened to her finish her spiel, turning incredulously to her voice yelling for her attention._

 _Drip-Drip_

 _Finally, she turned to him and said, "I don't love you." He turned and the Indominus opened its mouth to swallow him._

 _Drip-Drip-Drip-Drip_

Owen jerked awake finally aware of the noise not coming from his nightmare. The quick movement made his whole body sway as the chains that tied him to the ceiling offered no support.

He let out the tiniest whimper.

"You know you scream in your sleep?" said a voice from somewhere in the darkness. This made Owen jerk up his head, furthering his unstable swaying. He let out a louder groan.

Drip-Drip

He heard the noise again and followed its tapping to the bottom of his feet. His eyes finally adjusted he could see the blood coming from his manacled wrists trickling slowly down the length of him.

"Yeah, you've lost a bit of blood. Probably the only reason you were able to sleep at all considering how much pain you must be in." The voice was now standing in front of him. Summoning the little strength he had, he lifted his head to brown eyes on a female face. She was absolutely average by all accounts. Average height, average weight and average looks, but the only thing not average about her was the scar running the length of her face from brow to jaw.

"Hi, I'm Gerry," She said. Offering her hand and then wiping it on her leg when she realized he wouldn't be shaking it.

"I am actually sorry about the situation we have you in here. It wasn't my idea, but then again you might not believe me. You see Louis runs this whole thing. I would be just as strung as you if I didn't listen." She rambled on and Owen almost felt like he might doze off again when he felt a sudden woosh. The next moment he was sprawled on cold concrete in a puddle of what he knew to be his own blood.

 _What the fuck is going on here?_ Owen thought to himself, and he didnt have to wait long to find out. He heard the creak of hinges from behind him and a man crouched down to his mangled form on the floor.

"Do you know why you have been hanging from my cellar's ceiling for the last half of a day?"

Coughing the dryness out of his throat, Owen responded,"Does it have anything to do with my meddling around that wall?"

"You see Gerry, I knew he was smart. She just thought you were a lug of meat, but I knew better."

"Hey you said you wouldn't tell him that!"

Owen interrupted their banter,"Who are you and what do you want from me?"

"Oh right to the point then, well we want your crew to get the hell away from our wall."

"So it's _your_ wall then, is it?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes, yes it is our wall" said the man

"And why couldn't you have just told us that instead of I don't know pinning me to your ceiling and giving me what feels like a serious concussion?"

"Well that was Louis call you see, Hoskins that grade A asshole that you had the pleasure of seeing die. He was our boss Louis's son. So when he found out you were the one medalling around the wall. He thought he'd just pay it forward."

"I didn't kill Hoskins."

"I wouldn't have blamed you if you did," said Gerry this time.

"Shut up, Gerry. Louis could be watching."

"Oh and so what if he is, Hoskins was my husband. I think I have every right to say whatever the hell I want about him," she responded

Meanwhile, Owen was searching his containment. He turned a bit to see that the door that they seemed to go in and out of did not have a lock. He surveyed the chains that he was bound by and quickly ascertained that they were old and possibly breakable if given enough pull. Testing them he gently tugged his hands pretending to make to get up and faking an exhausted fall.

"Oh look, Jack, he's trying to get up. We should help him." As they began to pull him up, he blacked out. This time he was not faking it, but before the black creeped in the edges of his eyes. He felt the manacles just slightly loosen.

It had been a whole day since they'd gotten the tape in the mysterious package. The entire crew had dropped everything to figure out how they would get Owen back without getting him killed in the process. There were countless ex-seals on the crew, military reconnaissance pros, everyone and anyone that might be able to put together a rescue, but they had come up with close to no workable plan/

Claire was staring at a park map thinking that if she could bore her eyes into one spot Owen might appear there.

"You need sleep,Claire" Lowery said over her shoulder.

"No"

"Claire-"

"You've already told me to sleep four times"

"But claire-"

"No"

"Ok, fine, you can keep saying no, but I can promise you that the less sleep you get the more likely you'll be completely useless for finding Owen."

She knew he was right, but the problem was that she was certain that even if her body absolutely needed it, her mind would never let her sleep. Not with the types of thoughts she was having right now.

"You're right. Maybe I'll just go back to my room and try to catch a few hours of sleep." Lowery looked utterly relieved at her words. As if her taking a break meant he finally could. Maybe that's exactly what it was.

Everyone else was sleeping by then, they had all stayed up till 3 am trying to figure out plans, but by 3:15 James told everyone to rest on it.

Claire couldn't, but she knew Lowery was right and anyways she wouldn't be able to get anything done if he kept telling her to go to bed every 10 minutes.

So she walked back to her room, but before she knew it, she wasn't standing in front of her door. She was standing in front of his. Owen's room.

She pushed the handle, and felt the first genuine relief she'd felt in hours. It was open.

Walking through the hallway, she picked up the tee shirt he had been wearing the day before he left. He must've thrown it on the ground before going to bed. She changed out of her clothes, and pulled the tee shirt over her head and slipped on his flannel boxers.

It almost felt like he was there, the leather and molasses smell of Owen filling her senses. Tears started to fall down her face, but she wiped them back. Knowing if she started crying she would not stop and what good would puffy eyes and a pressure headache do for her now.

Instead she made her way to his bed, and reached over into his bed stand drawer hoping to read some of the notes he would write in his bible. Hoping to find a little bit of him somewhere within reach. When she opened the drawer the bible was not there. _Of course he would bring that with him._ She chided herself for not thinking that part through.

But when she closed the drawer she heard a small thump noise. Opening it back up she reached into the back, and pulled out a small blue velvet jewelry box. The top had her name scrawled in silver cursive on it.

 _It can't be._

She flipped the box open, her breath leaving her chest in a whoosh. It was beautiful. The ring was blue sapphire surrounded by tiny diamonds on a thin silver band.

Claire had known that he was going to propose to her, or at least she knew he said he was going to. But she kind of figured it was impromptu, that he would buy the ring later. That it was a spur of the moment idea for him.

Looking down at the box, she could feel its intentionality. The sapphire because it was both of their birthstones. The elegance of the small band and the tiny diamonds creating a simple but decadent design that to Claire felt like it was made not just for her but from her.

Turning it over she saw in the lining of the ring a cursive string of words, _For survival and forever_

Claire lied down on the bed pulling the sheets up to her chin with the ring still in her hand. Switched off the light.

In the darkness, she whispered, "Yes, of course."

And slipped the ring on her finger.


	15. Chapter 15: Broken Manacles

She woke up two hours later. The nightmares came as she expected. After forcing herself to endure everyone from her mom to Owen dying in front of her eyes, she woke up. She only endured that much only because her real life was not much better to wake to.

But it was in waking and looking out at the ocean in the distance that an idea hit the wind out of her.

She ran to the control room, which was now full again. She pulled James and Barry into a side office and told them her idea.

"I think I have an idea."

"All ears here," Said James. Barry was already focused on her. His eyes tilted like a hawks.

There immediate confidence in her plan made her a bit nervous, maybe this wasn't as sure fire as she had thought.

"Well, we have only been focusing on the area we know Owen went in through, but we don't know if he will actually be in or even near that location. After all there is about a 100 miles of unregistered terrain that they could have him in," she said looking at both of them.

"That is a good point, but that is not really a plan is it?"Barry responded.

"Right, my thought is that we don't need to get through the T-rex paddock to find owen, or even to get to the other side. I think we should take a boat of a very small team around the wall and to the other side."

"That might work, and then we could work a perimeter, taking trips in at different points and for a short time to try and keep ourselves in cognito until we find him," said James.

"I'm glad you said that, because after taking a boat to the other side I kind of was lost for what to do," Claire replied.

"Where you though? I bet you were planning on running in every which direction until you found him or they found you," Barry laughed, but the laugh didn't reach his eyes. He was warning her not to do anything of the sort.

"Ok, I'm going to tell the crew," said James.

He made to turn, when- "Wait, no, don't tell them," interjected claire.

They both turned curious eyes on her, "And why not?" said James.

"I don't know. It might just be my anxiety about this whole thing, but I can't help but feel like if the people across the wall are as cunning as they have been so far that maybe they have someone on the inside," she said.

"It's not the craziest thought. Ok, well if we are going to keep this a secret, is it just Barry and I going? I think it's a bit too small of a team."

"No, first, I am definitely going"- Barry began to interrupt "and there is absolutely nothing you can say to keep me. Second, I think thr group should be us three, Paula and Jonathan from your group," she pointed at James.

"And I think Serena, Lowery and Zach should run mission controls here," she finished.

They both smirked, Barry said, "He did say you were a bit controlling, but damn. Sounds like a plan to me."

"I second it," said James.

It had to have been half a day since they'd honored him with a visit. Owen was delirious from the lack of water and food, but at least he wasn't strung to the ceiling.

He kept going in and out of consciousness, but when he could stay awake he would yank at his chains. There was one link that, if he could reach it, the ring would slip out of the other link. He spent over an hour trying to balance it out, another trying to jump to it and knock it out. When he finally got it, he breathed a deep sigh of relief and summoned the strength to escape.

Afterall, he had no idea what to expect. They would be idiots if they didn't leave him with a guard. But at the same time, they didn't seem at all concerned with him. He wasn't sure if they were planning on coming back at all.

To make matters worse though, the rib that he knew was broken before this little adventure into hell, was now pressing in on his lungs. He knew pneumonia would set in if he didn't get out of there, and out of there quick.

So clenching his teeth against the pain that was his whole body. He swung himself up still manacled but free to move. He made a drunk like run at the door and swung open easily. Before he had time to realize his mistake, he was in mid air. The door had opened off on the side of a cliff.

He hit the water as best he could remembering his seal training. The chains threatened to pull him down. He kicked furiously up to the air, breathing in heavy gulps he started kicking to the small beach about 500 meters away.

When he finally reached it, his body was spent. He blacked out before he could move out of plain sight.

When everyone went off to sleep, they all met at the beach in their radar gear. Claire had gotten equipment for emergency, and well this was as much of an emergency as any.

They all looked around at each other in the dark. It felt like maybe there needed to be a speech, but instead, Claire just said, "Alright, let's go."

They had told Lowery, Zach and Serena to tell the group that they were going to mainland to talk to some higher authorities about this whole mess. Which was a good idea, the only problem was there were no ways off the Island without calling in a ship or hello. Which Claire wasn't risking Owen's life with another hello and they couldn't make any calls, because in congruence with their threat whoever had Owen had cut off their land lines and wifi. They were truly in the dark, except for the park cameras, which were no help past the wall.

It took about four hours for them to get within sight of the wall that went a bit into the ocean, obviously making sure whatever lived behind it couldn't make it around. Claire thought that was well planned.

Then James said, "Ok, so I think we should take it down quite slow until we reach the beach so as to not alert our presence to whoever or whatever is in the area."

A pair of yellow eyes followed them as they inched towards the coastline.

When Owen woke up, he was shivering. He was still back up on the small beach below the cliffs, but the sun was gone and cold water sloshed against the backs of his legs. He could feel a stingy sensation on many parts of his body where the salt licked his wounds.

 _Fuck this_ is all he thought lying there inert. Finally he pushed himself up and tried to figure out how he was going to get the manacles off. Spotting a particularly jagged rock jutting out of the cliffs he walked over and began roughly banging the clasp on it.

It was almost off when Owen heard a loud shout. It was a human shout. Turning to the noise he tried to figure out where it was coming from. Then it came again, much closer now. It was above him. He began furiously banging the manacles against the rock.

They finally came loose, the screams immediately above him. He didn't know why he thought climbing towards the screams was a good idea, but he was already finding footholds before he could think much about it.

The screaming stopped when he was about halfway up. It only made him push harder towards the top.

When he finally did, the sight made his stomach drop below his feet.


End file.
